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The Psychology of Japanese Train Stations

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Re: The Psychology of Japanese Train Stations

#131

Post by golergka »

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?

Moscow subway has a train every 2 or 3 minutes most of the time, so there's no timetable anywhere visible to the passengers - you just wait for the next train. In rare occurences where trains have different destinations (about only 2 lines have those), you just look it up at the train windshield or listen to the announcement.

Re: The Psychology of Japanese Train Stations

#132

Post by rowaway93 »

saagarjha wrote: post #103
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.

> local gaijins Isn't this an oxymoron? I don't really know Japanese, but as far as I'm aware this means something along the lines of "local foreigners".

Yes it means forreigner, but a person living far away is not a foreigner. Someone who lives in a foreign nation is at home, not foreign. Does that make sense?

Re: The Psychology of Japanese Train Stations

#133

Post by rowaway93 »

masklinn wrote: post #125
saagarjha wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> local gaijins Isn't this an oxymoron? I don't really know Japanese, but as far as I'm aware this means something along the lines of "local foreigners".

"Gaijin" is any non-ethnically-japanese person, so non-japanese long-term residents are still gaijin, even if they've been here for 15y, have a long-term job and married a japanese. "Local gaijin" are thus simply people living in the area but not of japanese ethnicity. Mostly expats.

Complete this sentence:

Someone with japanese great grandparents, born in the second generation in america, speaking no japanese, coming to japan is ethnically ..?

Thanks for your contribution.

Re: The Psychology of Japanese Train Stations

#134

Post by angelsl »

SlowRobotAhead wrote: post #5

Anecdote time... Tokyo train stations kinda suck. Coming from a few weeks in Malaysia and Singapore, it was interesting to see just how little and how poorly translated English is there. (They speak Japanese and not English, but lets be honest about it being the lingua franca) It was VERY DIFFICULT to figure out how their train colors worked, how Orange gets to Blue (it's a connect, but a couple blocks away). That Gi…

You can't really compare to Singapore.

English is our primary language.

Re: The Psychology of Japanese Train Stations

#135

Post by galieos_ghost »

marak830 wrote: post #49
quantisan wrote: post #43

I witnessed a group of 20+ Latin American tourists boarding at some station and then getting off at Shinjuku the other day. One of them held the train door with his body while all 20+ of them strolled in the train nonchalantly. Then the same door blocker proceeded to scream out instructions to the rest of the group. They did the same thing on the way out. Usually there's a smooth flow of people entering and exiting a…

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.

The joys of living in a homogeneous society with an average IQ of 106

Re: The Psychology of Japanese Train Stations

#136

Post by mikekchar »

CaptainZapp wrote: post #117
mikekchar wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The Japan Rail Pass, while not having any functional use, did make things cheaper Just a quick comment for anyone planning to come to Japan. If you are going to stay in Tokyo, then the Japan Rail Pass is probably not worth it (it only gives you a free pass on JR rail). But if you are going anywhere else , you absolutely should get this. Especially on the Shinkansen, you get free reserved seat tickets. Also, the sys…

Absolutely that! Another example: Travelling from Tokyo to Sapporo return (the part from Hakodate to Sapporo is not covered by Shinkansen, but should be from 2030, but I digress) is more expensive than a three week train pass. If you're not strapped for cash get a pass for the green car (first class). The price difference is minimal (ca. 60K Yen vs. 80K Yen for three weeks) and it makes travelling even more amazing.…

I didn't even know there was a green car pass. That's insane! Even if you are travelling in Obon or Golden Week that will absolutely guarantee that you can travel anywhere you want to go whenever you want. I've only travelled in green car once. I'm a bit of a train nerd, but I'm also cheap so I'm always jealous! Some day I will absolutely travel on the Nozomi Shinkansen, no matter what it costs :-)

Re: The Psychology of Japanese Train Stations

#137

Post by mlrtime »

JoeDaDude wrote: post #18

More on the shisa kanko Point-and-Call system here: https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/pointing-and-calling-j... I've heard of people doing similar things with small children for safety reasons, things such as point both ways before crossing, and the old "fingers on noses before the door closes" for car doors.

The NYC subway operators do this as well.

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/mta-conductors-point-sto...

Re: The Psychology of Japanese Train Stations

#138

Post by zhte415 »

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?

This is how trains are supposed to run...

High speed typically takes single track. One delay causes countless more delays.. domino effect. By using single track, any deficiency is immediately visible. So by moving to the surface any potential for error which could be hidden or diluted, each part of the machine is forced to move at the same rate. This increases system wide efficiency.

Re: The Psychology of Japanese Train Stations

#139

Post by thousandautumns »

azernik wrote: post #47
ng12 wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> They speak Japanese and not English, but lets be honest about it being the lingua franca If you go to Seoul they don't even have Romanized names for the train stations. Everything's in Hangul. For a massive system built primarily for Japanese speakers it's really pretty accessible. > Japan was a lot like NYC, the subway there is also more confusing than places like DC or Taipei. I mean, DC and Taipei are much small…

In addition, in a country as big and insular (literally and figuratively) as Japan, catering to foreigners is less of a concern.

Except they absolutely cater to foreigners. Even living in the countryside of Hokkaido, all of the train stations had everything in Japanese and English.

Re: The Psychology of Japanese Train Stations

#140

Post by marak830 »

Bromskloss wrote: post #110
saagarjha wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> local gaijins Isn't this an oxymoron? I don't really know Japanese, but as far as I'm aware this means something along the lines of "local foreigners".

I understood it as referring to non-Japanese people living in Japan, who should make sure that the clueless ones among their ranks behave.

That's exactly it. I try and help foreigners who look lost at stations when I can, and while I'm a foreigner myself, I have been here 8 years now.
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