three minutes

since i live in tokyo, but work in saitama, my train riding schedule is the reverse of most people. in the mornings, i see trains going into tokyo that are packed like cans of sardines, while my train, heading out into the "country-side" has empty seats and leg room. being from rural (RURAL!) ohio, i only think of saitama as the "country-side" by tokyo-ite standards; it's still more "big city" than my hometown.

anyway, the same goes for my way home. in the evening, there aren't masses of people heading into tokyo, so i can usually sit down and i almost always fall asleep. but today, it was unusually crowded and i stood almost the whole way. when i got off to tansfer trains, everyone bee lined it for the escalators and practically took the stairs two at a time.

side note - AMAZING thing i love about japanese people and escalators: everyone knows to stand on the left and let the people who want to walk do so on the right. such efficiency!! going back to the states on vacation and having to deal with people standing all over the place drives me nuts!!

so, some of those bee-lining people continued up the second escalator and when they heard the familiar buzzing that signals the doors are closing, they pushed it like they were on the home stretch of a 400meter dash. some of them made the train, others didn't. as i leisurely strolled up the escalator, i chuckled to myself...

...another train would be coming in a mere three minutes.


(this experience reminded me of this list, where it's actually the first one listed. disclaimer: i think some of the things on the list are ridiculous actually kind of obnoxious, but it's entertaining and some of them couldn't be more on the mark.)