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Legless Japanese businessmen: the photographer who caught a Tokyo epidemic

theguardian.com

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Re: Legless Japanese businessmen: the photographer who caught a Tokyo epidemic

#31

Post by jchb »

mseidl wrote: post #15

That's one thing I thought was a little disappointing when I was in Tokyo. The trains stop at midnight on the weekends, when I would miss it I'd have to stay out till they started up again. In Germany, at least in bigger cities, they have on weekends and holidays that public transit goes all night.

I think the mentality is: if you can afford to party, then you can also afford to arrange your own transport (eg. taxi) home. Public transport running at night time will be inevidently be subsidized by either day-time riders or tax payers, due to the much lower density of riders.

Then, why encourage people to stay out late...

In northern Europe you often hear the safety argument for affordable night-time public transport - “without that people may catch a unlicensed cab or try to walk home and get robbed, or worse”. But in Tokyo you the risk of something happening to you even if you pass out on the sidewalk is very very low.

Re: Legless Japanese businessmen: the photographer who caught a Tokyo epidemic

#32

Post by stef25 »

justtopost wrote: post #25
kasperni wrote: post #21

Imagined the shitstorm if someone went around taking picture of collage-aged girls passed out on the pavement, and published them it in a book..... Yes, they have passed out in public. But I still think people have some right to privacy.

I am all for privacy, but public is public. Are you suggesting women somehow deserve more dignity than men? Or just that our public perception is skewed? I find your post confusing. While an appeal to privacy for the homeless makes sense, these men have (hypothetically) a choice to go home, or elsewhere, even if inconvient. I realize the article is hinting that the choice is not as voluntary as they would perfer, but…

The Guardian gleefully posts anything poking fun or criticism at men but doing the same to women is totally off limits. OP is totally right in that sense.

Even above the fold of their homepage they usually have one or two pieces about social justice. Then there's a steady stream of columnists that publish a daily stream of outrage pieces.

It's almost not a newspaper anymore but more of an activist-paper.

Re: Legless Japanese businessmen: the photographer who caught a Tokyo epidemic

#34

Post by GarrisonPrime »

justtopost wrote: post #25
kasperni wrote: post #21

Imagined the shitstorm if someone went around taking picture of collage-aged girls passed out on the pavement, and published them it in a book..... Yes, they have passed out in public. But I still think people have some right to privacy.

I am all for privacy, but public is public. Are you suggesting women somehow deserve more dignity than men? Or just that our public perception is skewed? I find your post confusing. While an appeal to privacy for the homeless makes sense, these men have (hypothetically) a choice to go home, or elsewhere, even if inconvient. I realize the article is hinting that the choice is not as voluntary as they would perfer, but…

I think they are suggesting that the invasion of privacy going on here would be more obvious to us if the images were of women.

And your implication that these men don’t deserve for us to respect their dignity is absurd. Making choices you don’t agree with doesn’t invalidate their humanity.

Re: Legless Japanese businessmen: the photographer who caught a Tokyo epidemic

#35

Post by sbarre »

becauseiam wrote: post #7

The Instagram account @shibuyameltdown has been covering people in Tokyo being passed out in public areas for a while now.

This account seems to capture the less sanitized version of this phenomenon (i.e. most people get sick somewhere along the way).

Re: Legless Japanese businessmen: the photographer who caught a Tokyo epidemic

#36

Post by ng12 »

h1d wrote: post #28
emiliobumachar wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your theory should apply to any huge city where drinking is not taboo. I've visited a few huge cities in North and South America dozens of times over my lifetime. I do not remember ever seeing people in non-ragged suits sleeping rough. Is anyone else's experience different? If this is specific to Japan, that's worth pointing out, even if the explanation is speculative and may well be wrong. Any other theories?

How about safety? Hard to think about getting robbed or being shot at.

Yeah, I honestly think Japan is the only country in the world where you could sleep on the street in a suit and wake up with all your possessions in tact.

Re: Legless Japanese businessmen: the photographer who caught a Tokyo epidemic

#37

Post by aklemm »

kasperni wrote: post #21

Imagined the shitstorm if someone went around taking picture of collage-aged girls passed out on the pavement, and published them it in a book..... Yes, they have passed out in public. But I still think people have some right to privacy.

Imagine the shitstorm if drunk men were assaulted at the rates drunk women are.

Re: Legless Japanese businessmen: the photographer who caught a Tokyo epidemic

#38

Post by tlear »

factsaresacred wrote: post #18
ekianjo wrote: post #2

> When the train has gone and a hotel is too expensive pavements and benches are the only option. of course not. In japan you have tons of options to spend a night in town for a few bucks. Go in a Karaoke at night, or an internet cafe (even some are "boxed" so that you have decent privacy to doze off)... it's far from being difficult. That is also why internet cafes have showers available... > . But in the deferentia…

> When you are in a city with millions of people transiting, you are bound to see a lot more of people who are dead drunk on your journey because a lot more people pass by everyday. Dead drunk passed out on the ground? Hobos maybe, not dudes in suits. You rarely see this phenomenon in China or South Korea.

Not sure about Korea but in Japan you can do this every day with a wallet packed with cash, new iPhone and an expensive watch and you will wake up every time with all of them still there.

People do this because they know if they get that drunk and end up hell knows where, they are still completely safe and will be fine next morning. I am not sure there is another country where you can do this and not get robbed.

There are plenty of spaces to sleep in Tokyo if you are still semi conscious after a party. These guys were far beyond that.

Re: Legless Japanese businessmen: the photographer who caught a Tokyo epidemic

#39

Post by microcolonel »

> When the train has gone and a hotel is too expensive, pavements and benches are the only option. Paweł Jaszczuk on how he captured a new phenomenon

This is not a new phenomenon, and these are not the only options. I figure as a general rule, if you have the vast access to cultural resources, or Google, that the Guardian's columnists surely do, it is shameful to fail to pass muster in the subtitle.

Of course leave it to an unironic socialist (Jaszczuk) and somebody taken in by him (Bowcock) to be too lazy to Google something before blaming it on "capitalism" and condemning it as unsightly; all atop a high horse.

Re: Legless Japanese businessmen: the photographer who caught a Tokyo epidemic

#40

Post by mrschwabe »

ekianjo wrote: post #10
cobbzilla wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Options or not, salarymen sleeping on the street does seem to be a thing in Tokyo. This is far from the first article I’ve seen about it. As for an explanation of the behavior, I don’t think that was the point. This photographer is less interested in “the answer”, but is presenting “the question” in a new way. If you found it provocative then it worked.

> street does seem to be a thing in Tokyo it is not specific to Tokyo at all. Go to the center of Osaka, you will find drunk salarymen every day of the week.

You will find drunk salarymen in the evenings yes but seeing them passed out alone outside is very rare in Osaka. Not uncommon on trains however.
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