polystyle

Well-known member
Thoughts while here in 'Pointless' ,
ref: the You Tube vid Matt b posted:
I'd just like to mention that 'groping' on Japanese trains is one subject -
and being pushed into the train is another.
But yeah, put the two together -and they do go together ...

In Tokyo, you really can get smushed together.
Better have your arms in a good place when the crush comes - arms down by waist when the hordes push into the car and you may not be able to scratch your eyebrow if you get an itch.
Until a stop comes where enough people get off and you can scratch, wipe, shift position.
Literally ...

Watching it via YouTube,
one may not get to understanding that the people in the vids need to get home ,
these are not pleasure seekers, hipsters, a population of perverts heading off down the pub.
They have to do this every day and often again at night because if you miss that last train
you may face a $50 -100 taxi ride home ( plus - minus ) depending where you live.
The citizens in the You Tube vid - that looks like everyday 'rush hour' either morning , evening or that last train rush.
They are just getting on with it to borrow a phrase ...
Most big cities have a variation of this phenomenon but it IS one of the crazy times in Tokyo.

Re: Groping. It's been a pretty big problem,
the trains notorious situations -enablers if you will - for it to happen.
Salaryman logic ( and up to say a decade ago, a predominant 'man's world' logic ) is that daily porn reading on the train , loads of mags at the ready on the subway stands are there to make that ride easier.
It has been a nightmare for women ever since it began.
By now though, women are calling alot of the shots in the house, the bank, the clubs and in their own 'ladies only' train cars.
Or they get out of the country and come to visit your city.
Some may have seen the TV dramas where someone was a victim of groping or
a guy accused of doing so and what follows in the Japanese legal system.

Of course, some never change and take that chance to grab what and when they can.
For dealing with those types I suggest a stun gun.
:)

When you see the Japanese then full on sleeping in the train cars , you realize how bad things could really get if the same behavior was transported to any other big city in US, Europe, UK , Africa anywhere urban where pervs, criminals , all freaks would take the opportuny to would come out the woodwork and prey.
When I see the innocent sleep deprived heads nodding off, I wish them good luck and a safe ride home.
Head not quite done in , but probably something close ...
 

Sick Boy

All about pride and egos
I could write a very lengthy exposition on pointless (some might say, anyway) things that do my head in regarding the public transit system in my city, and the etiquette of the dead-eyed beasts who use it.
 

IdleRich

IdleRich
"What! That is so strange."
Which football player was it who was the victim of the song "You're just a fat Purple Aki"?

"Thoughts while here in 'Pointless' ,
ref: the You Tube vid Matt b posted:
I'd just like to mention that 'groping' on Japanese trains is one subject -
and being pushed into the train is another.
But yeah, put the two together -and they do go together"
Isn't it a recognised fetish now where you can go to a brothel and pay to grope people on a fake subway?
I used to go out with a Japanese girl and the stories she told me about commuting and the hours she used to work made me feel physically weak. Ten hour days minimum with more than an hour travel morning and night. There was a bed in the office for those who needed to work overtime.
(I too like the way Polystyle writes)
 

polystyle

Well-known member
I could write a very lengthy exposition on pointless (some might say, anyway) things that do my head in regarding the public transit system in my city, and the etiquette of the dead-eyed beasts who use it.

Imo one of the big differences between say , Tokyo and NYC subway trains travel experience, is the amount of multi race mixing.
NYC, you just give a little space. Everyone likes their little space, place.
Tokyo, a little space if you have it- if not , 'we are (mostly) one race' so if we have to get home or go to the same store at the same time, etc. -we'll all smush in together.

' dead eyes' - sometimes a funny moment when you catch a flicker of someone looking at you though right ?
Obv. depending on who the 'deads' belong too ...

That's different from say LA though, one doesn't get to the eyes going to the local by car.
 

Sick Boy

All about pride and egos
' dead eyes' - sometimes a funny moment when you catch a flicker of someone looking at you though right ?
Obv. depending on who the 'deads' belong too ...

Mostly funny to watch their eyes ricochet off your glare in some preposterous direction. I have stopped giving up my seat to anybody anymore: there is no such thing as "priority seating" as far as I'm concerned. I have been elbowed, trampled, cross-checked, shouldered and damn near headbutted by all manner of women, children, elderly and disabled who decide that waiting even a minute or two longer for the next train would be far too much to ask of them.

There is no such thing as civilization on subway train platforms.
 

Mr. Tea

Let's Talk About Ceps
Salaryman logic ( and up to say a decade ago, a predominant 'man's world' logic ) is that daily porn reading on the train , loads of mags at the ready on the subway stands are there to make that ride easier.

Eeugh...I can just imagine loads of people boarding the train at a busy stop and getting crushed up against some guy who's just been reading Tentacle Rape Monthly - then feeling a hard, nagging Something pressing against my thigh or arse... :eek:
 

polystyle

Well-known member
Mostly funny to watch their eyes ricochet off your glare in some preposterous direction. I have stopped giving up my seat to anybody anymore: there is no such thing as "priority seating" as far as I'm concerned. I have been elbowed, trampled, cross-checked, shouldered and damn near headbutted by all manner of women, children, elderly and disabled who decide that waiting even a minute or two longer for the next train would be far too much to ask of them.

There is no such thing as civilization on subway train platforms.

Right ...
Eyes shooting up to that suddenly very interesting thing up above your head.
Not YOU of course -the patch of train paint just beside you.

I used to complain about the grannies elbowing on the Japanese trains.
Used to ...
 

polystyle

Well-known member
Eeugh...I can just imagine loads of people boarding the train at a busy stop and getting crushed up against some guy who's just been reading Tentacle Rape Monthly - then feeling a hard, nagging Something pressing against my thigh or arse... :eek:

Illegal yes, but your hand is on your stun gun at that same moment ...
'Don't drip ... on me .. I'm living over here !'
 

zhao

there are no accidents
people are a bit over polite in germany tubes it seems
everyone minds own business
but i do see people looking at me
used to look away
but now i stare at them until they look away
a little game...

older people will reprimand you for putting your feet up on the empty seat in front of you though
so strange that in this culture it's very rude to put your feet up
in the US i would do it anywhere bars restaurants
man needs to be comfortable! it's important!
how you like my new (poly) style
 

zhao

there are no accidents
i love talking to people at airports
you know during those long lay overs
you sit at a cafe or bar
order something and start chatting to people
about where they're going their lives and what they do
oh wow 3 kids! how do you feel when you go back to Peru?

such completely random, unrepeatable and brief encounters
nice to catch a glimpse of someone else's life as they zig zag across this world of ours.
 

BareBones

wheezy
re: groping on Japanese subways, one of my friends that lived in Tokyo for a year said the 'women only' carriages actually made the problem worse, because once these carriages were swiftly filled with all the women piling in, the remaining women on the platform would be left with no choice but get in a regular 'mixed' carriage (or they could just wait for the next train, I suppose, but still), which apparently to some men was seen as almost an invitation to grope, or like they were fair game or something, and so the point is that, once the women-only cars appeared, the mixed ones became even more dangerous for those women adverse to being publicly groped by strangers.
 

polystyle

Well-known member
re: groping on Japanese subways, one of my friends that lived in Tokyo for a year said the 'women only' carriages actually made the problem worse, because once these carriages were swiftly filled with all the women piling in, the remaining women on the platform would be left with no choice but get in a regular 'mixed' carriage (or they could just wait for the next train, I suppose, but still), which apparently to some men was seen as almost an invitation to grope, or like they were fair game or something, and so the point is that, once the women-only cars appeared, the mixed ones became even more dangerous for those women adverse to being publicly groped by strangers.

Well, those who wanna grope are going to look for any way to do their thing.
It IS Japan after all and look how long it took them to implement 'women only' cars,
they need more then they should get on with it.
 

Sick Boy

All about pride and egos
So wait, let me get this straight: strangers groping women on subway cars in Japan is a notable thing?! How on earth does that ever get socialized to the point where the introduction of women-only cars is needed?!
 

polystyle

Well-known member
Ahh , just back now.

Well, it has been a known mode for some men for a long time.
Caught a J TV show just the other night,
each show built around a song from certain period.
This one was '1969' and song was ok,
but visual was striking -porn mags on sale in vending machines on the street.
Shots of kids eating ice cream standing in front of a row stacked high over their heads.
This practice was ended eventually.
Vending companies were making lots of money on it.
Now flashforward through the decades ... and you can imagine or perhaps know all the pron permutations that marketers, etc. came up with - and still do.
 

padraig (u.s.)

a monkey that will go ape
yeah, but Manhattan is the Disney Land of NYC. It's not really what people are talking about when they talk about NY horror stories. I mean, of course, nobody's going to get into much shit in Manhattan at the tourist spots. Nobody gets mugged in Manhattan either. But take a ride to the Bronx sometime and report back...

no, I meant Brooklyn too. not Williamsburg either, like Sunset Park & Park Slope & Bushwick & all this. tho I dunno if those are the "good" parts of Brooklyn or whatever, I'm not super familiar.

never been to the Bronx except for Mott Haven a few times but it was fine. I think speaking Spanish helps in some places.
 

IdleRich

IdleRich
"people are a bit over polite in germany tubes it seems
everyone minds own business
but i do see people looking at me
used to look away
but now i stare at them until they look away
a little game...

older people will reprimand you for putting your feet up on the empty seat in front of you though
so strange that in this culture it's very rude to put your feet up
in the US i would do it anywhere bars restaurants
man needs to be comfortable! it's important!
how you like my new (poly) style"
I llike it - it's well done. I agree about the staring game too - I like playing that, or maybe it's my excuse because I just tend to like looking at people.
 
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