small updates

yesterday i saw my first homeless man in japan.

i hadn't seen one in 2 months!

he was chilling under the ticket kiosks at the downtown station.

just an observation. i have no commentary on the matter.

and...

today, something that was really cute...as i was transferring lines on the subway, this small cute business man was running through the crowd, with his arms raised and pointing straight ahead, at a 90 degree angle, like as if he was imitating a tadpole or sperm or something....and he had this big, adorable, "i'm very apologetic, please excuse me, thank you, thank you, so sorry sorry" smile....as he pushed through the crowd. he made his train. and this whole moment was only like a split second. but it made me smile.

and then as i was going down the escalator, this younger business man was stuck behind two very old ladies, and he was trying to catch the train at the bottom of the stairs, before it would leave.  He moved to the left, tried to nudge by, moved to the right, tried to nudge by, paused, then tried again...then when they got to the bottom of the escalator, the ladies just stood in front of it deciding which side to take...and so this guy did his "left and right wobble" again....when he finally got around the obstacles of the 2 ladies, he had to make a quick U-turn...at which point, he nearly FACE-planted into the platform (which actually would have made me really sad, rather than laugh once in my life. because he was trying soooo hard!)...but he caught his grip just in time...and JUST as he got his footing back, 10 feet from the train, the doors closed, and it zoomed off.

poor guy.

haha.

that's the thing about japanese subways...the doors don't stop for anyone or anything. If your backpack is caught in the doorway as they close...well everything in your bag is now smushed. and will get a lot of air for the next 2 minutes.

i heard once or twice, people have gotten trapped in its way...it's apparently REALLY painful, and it takes a while for the doors to retract (maybe because its manually controlled???). It's supposed to be a deterrent to hold the train up, by last minute hoppers. Which makes sense. It's quite efficient. the subway is NEVER late. ever.

...

ever. =O

=)