The Psychology of Japanese Train Stations

Post by stevekemp » Fri, May 25, 2018, 10:03 AM UTC

dorfsmay wrote: post #67

11thEarlOfMar wrote: post #40

In my first experience with trains in Japan, I had to take a jaunt that included a leg from Nagoya to Matsusaka. The train ride was about 90 minutes, and I was anxious about knowing which station to exit. I anticipated that the signage would all be in Japanese. So I asked the station attendant in Nagoya how I'd know when to get off. He looked at my ticket and said, "The train will stop at 1:11PM. You get off." The tr…

I don't understand, isn't that how trains work everywhere? Otherwise how are the people in the next city supposed to know when they need to be there to board that train?

Post by jdietrich » Fri, May 25, 2018, 10:06 AM UTC

dorfsmay wrote: post #67

11thEarlOfMar wrote: post #40

In my first experience with trains in Japan, I had to take a jaunt that included a leg from Nagoya to Matsusaka. The train ride was about 90 minutes, and I was anxious about knowing which station to exit. I anticipated that the signage would all be in Japanese. So I asked the station attendant in Nagoya how I'd know when to get off. He looked at my ticket and said, "The train will stop at 1:11PM. You get off." The tr…

I don't understand, isn't that how trains work everywhere? Otherwise how are the people in the next city supposed to know when they need to be there to board that train?

Post by aikinai » Fri, May 25, 2018, 10:17 AM UTC

CaptainZapp wrote: post #111

kumarvvr wrote: post #93

Recently went to Japan. For a 'order' freak like me, it was heaven on earth. Not only in train stations, each and every aspect of their lives revolves around understanding human behavior and coming up with solutions to make activities as less confusing as possible. Their commitment to discipline is astounding. If everyone on earth were like the Japanese, our pace of technological, social and other forms of developmen…

What I actually liked most is the following: Eating fermented fish out of a bento box, while gliding through Japan with 300km/h is completely acceptable, yacking away on your cell phone is not. It makes for a very pleasent (and delicious) atmosphere while using public transport.

Post by Broken_Hippo » Fri, May 25, 2018, 10:27 AM UTC

thedailymail wrote: post #51

marak830 wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is so much here that couldn't work as it does, without the implicit assumption that everyone is going to behave politely. Hell the polite queuing after a major earthquake for water and food is absolutely astounding. The foreigners who don't try to live up to the social standards while living here should be shunned by the local gaijins.

Re the polite queuing after earthquakes: I happened to be in Sendai the day of the big earthquake/tsunami/nuclear reactor breakdown. I had no place to stay because I had a flight booked for later that day, which obviously got canceled. I started walking around downtown. There was clearly a lot of nervous energy, and there were hundreds of aftershocks in the first 24 hours, but people were behaving calmly and orderly.…

Post by gymshoes » Fri, May 25, 2018, 10:37 AM UTC

dorfsmay wrote: post #67

11thEarlOfMar wrote: post #40

In my first experience with trains in Japan, I had to take a jaunt that included a leg from Nagoya to Matsusaka. The train ride was about 90 minutes, and I was anxious about knowing which station to exit. I anticipated that the signage would all be in Japanese. So I asked the station attendant in Nagoya how I'd know when to get off. He looked at my ticket and said, "The train will stop at 1:11PM. You get off." The tr…

I don't understand, isn't that how trains work everywhere? Otherwise how are the people in the next city supposed to know when they need to be there to board that train?