This is actually the first one, but I guess I forgot to press the “Publish” button so it never got posted.
“Yelling at kids in the train.” – Sakai Junko
This happened the other day when I got on the bullet-train. There were two kids sitting in front of me. The two of them were watching a portable TV without headphones – sound pouring out into the train. Because we were in the train moving, the reception was pretty bad and there was a lot of static.
I kept waiting for the conductor to put a stop to it but of course that didn’t happen. Across from the idle was some middle-aged businessman. I was kind of hoping he would say something to them, but alas nothing happened. He just kept reading his magazine.
I am a person who likes the quiet, so I kept thinking reluctantly that there was nothing for me to do but scold them myself. However, when an adult yells at kids these days they are usually met with a barrage of rage. Come to think of it, just the other day there was a case where an older woman yelled at a girl putting on make-up on the platform. The girl pushed her when the train was coming to a stop and was hurt pretty bad.
“I was just using the make-up sponge to wipe away sweat. I wasn’t putting on any on,” she commented.
Unfortunately this kind of behavior has become common practice. If we judged these girls by 18th century standards, it would no doubt be considered unacceptable behavior. Even if some adult told her, ‘It’s disgusting so stop it!’ she would just reply, ‘I don’t see anything wrong with it,’ and that will be the end of it.
Electromagnetic waves emanating from cell phones, the tinny sound escaping from people’s headphones: as long as it is just unseemly and embarrassing and not an annoyance no one says anything.
But still, I found the sound coming from that portable TV to clearly fall into the category of annoying. I thought that even if they flew into a rage of fury, they looked pretty weak, so was not like it would even hurt. But then again kids these days carry all kinds of weapons and if they got really angry things could get out of hand.
I fretted over all this stuff but the annoyance got the better of me and I finally decided to do something. While smiling broadly, so as to sense my hospitability, I asked them if they ‘could turn it down just a little bit.’ I guess I started them a little bit coming from the seat behind them; they stammered out an apology and turned the volume down.
Although I was content with my results, saying things like, ‘can you turn the TV a little,’ does not actually mean turning down the volume. It means, ‘turn the damn TV off!’
What is more, that businessman sitting across from me, what a pitiful man! I thought. In spite of finding it annoying himself, he just sat there with a look of relief on his face.
At an earlier time, maybe even in the same situation, I probably would not have been in any position to tell anyone to do anything. I am sure I would have most likely been on the receiving end myself. For example, one time on the way back from school, we were on the train chatting away. Without saying anything, an older man handed us a piece of paper with “Shut up!” written on it and walked away.
“What does ‘shut up’ mean?”
“Maybe it’s ‘shaddap’?”
“’Shaddap’? What a creepy old guy!” we said without learning anything at all.
When I was in university, on the way back from a vacation in Hawaii we were in the airplane still wound-up from our break talking and singing songs and carrying on. A handsome steward told us to “Shh!” and I might have even been embarrassed for a moment.
Thinking back on those days when you are young, you do not notice anything going on around you. I realize that for those kids standing around and chatting, absolutely nothing is more important. They think of themselves as center of the universe.
I think the girls who put on make-up in trains are probably something similar. Since they are by themselves in their private coach, they do not feel even the slightest bit of embarrassment. At that moment in the bullet-train, nothing was more important that what was on that TV at that moment in time and because they wanted to, they were going to watch it.
However, when people become adults they realize little by little that they are not the center of the universe. They realize there are things you should not do in front of other people and our concept of “public decency,” becomes apparent.
Occasionally I will see an older person putting on make-up on the train and I am sure they are thinking something like, “Well these days it’s ok so I am going to do it too.” But they are wrong. It is only forgiven if you are young, and when older people do it: it’s a painful sight.
In Tokyo too, the “woman only” cars have become widely adopted. In the Kansai area when you ride in the woman-only cars you are surrounded by women putting on eye-liner without any care for the eyes of others. I am sure in Tokyo it is the same.
With the rise of these new cars where one can un-bashfully put on make-up, train ethics are surely changing. From childhood riding only in women-only cars, I am both frightened and intrigued by what kind of women these kids will become.
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