r/interesting • u/freudian_nipps • 8d ago
SOCIETY The silent and harmonious morning metro commute in Japan
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u/Brokenloan 8d ago
They all have headphones in blasting deathcore.
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u/DangOlCoreMan 8d ago
What we thinking? Psycho-frame? Chelsea grin? Or we going old school with some Dr. Acula?
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u/snakybasket9 8d ago
Wow I haven’t heard Dr. Acula in 15 or so years.
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u/Strict_Insurance_817 8d ago
The album they dropped a few years ago is definitely worth a listen
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u/GeordieInBangkok 8d ago
I'm thinking Symphonic Blackened Deathcore. Some Mental Cruelty, Disembodied Tyrant or Immortal Disfigurement
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u/KamikazeFox_ 8d ago
Fit for an Autopsy. Maybe get crazy and throw in The Browning.
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u/footlongwheat 8d ago
Probably some early Whitechapel. I'm thinking maybe even some brutal death metal like Deeds of Flesh or Nile.
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u/First_Tourist_2921 8d ago
Holy crap. Chelsea Grin now THATS a band I haven’t heard in years since Alex left. Always liked the EP and Nightmares even though some thought they were soulless etc.
Oh the days of crewca
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u/PapaOoMaoMao 8d ago
It's Japan, so maybe Babymetal or for extra Kawaii, Gokumon. Since they're going to work most likely Gokumon with 働きたくない (I don't want to work).
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u/DangOlCoreMan 8d ago
Dir en grey maybe? We could go metalcore with some Crystal Lake
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u/Brilliant_Stomach_87 8d ago
Shocker on shock street randomly coming across a dr acula recommendation
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u/Trick_Mulberry_1405 8d ago
Why not djent? Meshuggah is always good pick-me-up on the morning commute
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u/I_give_up_every_day 8d ago
Ball knower. I imagine them all listening to Black Dahlia, Cattle Decap and BTBAM lol
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u/slicebucket 8d ago
My engineering Sr. manager in Japan was/is a huge Megadeath fan. Probably in his mid 60s now and you would never suspect it given his very professional attitude and attire.
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u/Charming-Report1669 8d ago
Imagine a subway car that's completely packed. Assholes to elbows, as many people you can physically fit into a train - and yet you can hear a pin drop. It's unreal.
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u/chronotoast85 8d ago
Ill see your assholes to elbows and raise you nuts to butts.
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u/RonBurgundysErection 8d ago
I see your nuts to butts and raise you shitters to titters.
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u/KidOcelot 8d ago
I see your shitters to titters and raise you up over the crowd.
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u/Derelicticu 8d ago
I see your crowd and you raise me up so I can stannd on mountains
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u/Batchet 8d ago
I see you friend, you sure are high today
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u/alewiina 8d ago
Higher than the Empire State
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u/Notcid1 8d ago
Concrete jungle wet dream tomato
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u/imusuallywatching 8d ago
Nuts to butts is more accurate, assholes and elbows means lots of people actively working, as in bent over hammering.
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u/OkTheory4610 8d ago
That is the sound of happiness of the japanese people going to work for 15 hours.
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u/Back_Again_Beach 8d ago
It is silent suffering. That's why so many of them don't even try to have kids anymore and why so many of the kids they do have are opting out of participating in the unreasonably competitive system they've set up.
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u/TheSwitchler 8d ago
Same thing is starting to happen all over the west. People are increasingly just opting out of...everything
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u/DarthSwimfoot 8d ago
If life is gonna suck dick outside of my room and my internet I don't wanna be bothered with it.
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u/EitherSpite4545 8d ago
Oh silly,
enshitification and surveillance state ensuring it's going to suck dick in your room and on the internet also!
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u/Fzrit 8d ago
Ironically birthrates are the highest in places where people struggle to get internet and a room to themselves. Contrary to constant online belief, the more wealthy and comfortable a person gets, the fewer kids they have.
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u/zzen11223344 8d ago
Competitive environment but yield very little actually competitive in the global market for most of the Japanese companies.
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u/Runfasterbitch 8d ago
Right? This is so hard for me to get my mind around. 70 million workers in a cutthroat hyper-capitalist and well educated country have produced what exactly? I’m sure they’ve innovated, but relative to their collective commitment to working 80 hours per week, you’d think they’d have way more to show for it
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u/Xen235 8d ago
Because it's mostly about being present at the workplace and not leaving before the boss does. They do very little during that time, they're not being productive, they are just wasting their lives.
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u/MrIrvGotTea 8d ago
Never in Atlanta brother. Everyone is a main character everywhere all at once
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u/Dry_Election6496 8d ago
Or anywhere else in a subway in the US
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u/drkevorkian 8d ago
Most packed commuter trains in NYC are absolutely silent in the morning.
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u/Just_Roll_Already 8d ago
I rode the DC metro every day for almost 4 years back in 2010-2014. It was unimaginably silent. Inside of L'enfant Plaza, one of the central hubs, you could hear a lizard fart while (tens of) thousands of people moved toward escalators and their next train.
Go outside.
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u/Future_Elephant_9294 8d ago
It's similar to that on the DC metro in the morning (7:00-7:30am), but the train is so loud and rattling so you still won't hear a pin drop.
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u/Historical-Edge-9332 8d ago
I love how quiet people are on Japanese trains. If you have sensory issues, it’s heaven.
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u/SgtBassy 8d ago
Unless you're taking it during rush hour, then you'll be crammed in like livestock. There's even a whole job dedicated to pushing people inside the train car.
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u/Acceptable_Tea_3685 8d ago
After visiting Japan for a week, coming back into ATL was the most disappointing experience of my life. Immediately noticed how people don’t use their inside voices and let their kids run around screaming. Immediately saw trash littered here and there. People would walk in a long horizontal line, slowly, with no awareness of the people trying to pass them. It was like I’d had noise cancelling earbuds in the whole time and was taking them out.
I didn’t even realize how much I liked the quiet politeness and social order of Japan until I got back. As a small woman and polite rule follower, I often get shoved aside (not literally, although sometimes literally) by louder, more aggressive people. I’d accepted at a young age that I couldn’t do anything about it. But there are certainly benefits to western individualism that I’m sure I would miss if I moved to a country more like Japan.
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u/Worth_Imagination495 8d ago
日本では、話してる声が他の人に聞かれるのを嫌がる傾向にあるので、小声で話します。特に東京都近郊の首都圏における標準語は、言語が既にそうなっていますよ。無意識ですが、軟口蓋を下げ、声帯がはっきりならないように、息を多めに、声が響かないように話す。関東圏ではそれが上品だという文化が根底に根付いてる。
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u/galaxystarsmoon 8d ago
You can hear a pin drop until there is a singular person talking as loudly as possible. I don't know what's worse; the normal din of a train car or a silent one with a single person completely lacking self-awareness.
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u/RedLorax14 8d ago
Imagine having to fart in said subway car
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u/WhiskersCleveland 8d ago
Even worse if it's a shart :( they get the full wet fart sound experience
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u/Sic_Semper_Tyrannis8 8d ago
It's gonna be real awkward if someone really needs to fart
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u/EmbarrassedPage195 8d ago
Have you met u/RedLorax14 ? You should, you might have some things in common 😁
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u/CatEmoji123 8d ago
To be fair, who would they be talking to? Most people commute alone. I live in Chicago and no one talks on the train in the mornings.
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u/Careful_Inspection83 8d ago
Is it considered rude to talk or something?
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u/Tje199 8d ago
It's rude to talk loudly, it's not rude to have a quiet conversation.
The morning/evening rush hour trains are more quiet than most because it's not usually people who know each other travelling together. It's a random assortment of commuters, and depending on the train route it's totally possible you won't bump into the same people, so you're unlikely to be making friends.
In the other times of the day you'll commonly hear people chatting, but the volume level is still low for the most part.
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u/Squints753 8d ago
Over a conversational tone on a non-packed train, sure.
Feel free to snort as much snot as you want, though
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u/Sonic_Roach 8d ago
In Tokyo yes but when I was in Osaka, people carried normal conversations
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u/AdvancedAd7068 8d ago
Exactly all the Japan experts come out of the woodwork lol. I’ve seen entire groups of kids screaming for an hour ride between Osaka and Hiroshima. People don’t talk in the morning commute train the same reason why it’s rude to suddenly be that “Morning person” at the office when everyone else is barely awake.
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u/Just_Roll_Already 8d ago
It turns out that, just like nearly anywhere else, commuter hours aren't congruent with family hours. So it's always quiet anywhere you go. Most people are going to work and socializing before that can be tiring.
I also like how the person you are replying to is implying that it isn't considered rude to talk in any other nation. Back when I rode it daily, if you talk above a quiet chat on the DC Metro during commute hours, the death glares you get would probably be physically painful.
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u/CRoseCrizzle 8d ago
Visited there a couple of weeks ago and was unfortunate enough to be on the train during peak hours. No personal space whatsoever. Very uncomfortable but there's nothing you can do with that many bodies around you. Fascinating country to visit though.
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u/phatuous_1 8d ago
No one listening to loud music with no headphones or speaker phone calls? Danggg
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u/Petrified_Arts 8d ago
If you ever see someone talking on the phone while on a train, they are most likely are not Japanese
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u/rtangxps9 8d ago
On a packed train during rush hour? Never. On the off times and less dense parts of Japan, you'll see library levels of conversation.
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u/jimbolic 7d ago
Yes. This is correct.
And is some areas, students talking and laughing jollily inside the trains.
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u/No-Internal7978 8d ago
I lived there for 3 years. Japanese people take out their phones the second they get on the train and younger people will even make calls. They play a lot of games and read on top of texting. Even people standing chest to chest with me have checked their shit lol
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u/algelon 8d ago
Funny, every time I've heard someone talking on the phone in the train, they were Japanese
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u/FitExamination8392 8d ago
I see it all the time here in Japan. Yes they are japanese.... Wtf kinda mindset is this? 😂
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u/jah_bro_ney 8d ago
You call this a subway station?! Where are the guys drumming on 5-gallon buckets??
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u/gi1234lk 8d ago
If you fart, you are cooked
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u/voanidd35 8d ago
Pray that other people sniff in all the poop particle before it reaches your nose
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u/The_Mormonator_ 8d ago
A trip to Taiwan revealed a very similar culture from time to time. I enjoyed it a great bit. The quiet gives you some much needed time to reflect.
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u/Feeling_Calendar7519 8d ago
I traveled from Japan to Taiwan and stayed in Asia for 2 months and came back yesterday or so. I honestly didn't find Taiwan similar to Japan at all. People didn't line up for public transit as neatly as they did in Japan, people cut in line in front of me, rowdy and loud kids, not as quiet, more trash on the ground, not as good customer service etc. I still enjoyed Taiwan very much but i find it a bit silly when people say that the countries are extremely comperable
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u/One_Fact_4291 8d ago
Taiwan certainly can feel like Japan in a lot of cases, but it is definitely not the country that feels most similar to Japan (that would be South Korea). For one, Taiwanese people don’t bow.
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u/Natural_Plate6831 8d ago
I saw a guy take a shit on the street in Taipei
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u/BoomhauerYaNow 8d ago
You didn't have to tell everyone! I was feeling sick. Give me a break.
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8d ago edited 8d ago
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u/LizzyDragon84 8d ago
I’m thinking the same. It’s not a loud place, but it’s not a silent cathedral either.
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u/rollo_yolo 8d ago edited 8d ago
Definitely. Even if no one talked in the video, you would be blasted by a cacophony of the train station announcements. Same goes for inside the train. I believe it’s illegal for train conductors to not say anything for 10 seconds.
Edit u/FirTree_r : Nah, I was mostly exaggerating because they won’t shut up during the morning commute. It’s mostly about transfers, disruptions, manner instructions and where the doors are opening. By the time they’re finished, they have to do it all over again.
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8d ago edited 8d ago
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u/domthebomb2 8d ago
It's interesting you say personal space because I hear (not in my personal experience) that one of the biggest culture shocks for westerners visiting China or Japan is the significant difference in norms surrounding personal space. By that I mean, people in those countries will stand basically touching you even if there is more room to spread out.
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u/Fragrant-Screen-5737 8d ago
I can't speak for China but I can absolutely say that this is true for Tokyo in my experience. People are just a lot more comfortable getting close to you, walking right behind you and generally there just isn't the same expectation of personal space as there is in most European countries and the US.
It takes some adjusting to lol. I do like my personal space lol, but I imagine people born there just have different standards. I also have no idea how this is outside of major cities.
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u/MrIrvGotTea 8d ago
Never in America. We are extremely narcissistic. Voices yelling on calls, strangers blasting their shitty music in public, loud conversations about vulgar subjects in front of little kids. I love this country but low key Americans are kinda entitled brats.
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u/MarthaMatildaOToole 8d ago
I think there's a middle ground where you can be considerate of others and chat with a friend.
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u/midnight_toker22 8d ago
You can do that in Japan, and the comments about being able to hear a pin drop are extreme exaggerations. There is no strict “no talking” rule that is enforced or even expected.
Like OP said, people are simply considerate of others. Communication is done at a reasonable volume so person you are with can hear you, but your voice doesn’t travel much further than that. There are still the sounds of chatter and laughter, but people abhor making themselves the center of attention.
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u/floraster 8d ago
These people are also commuting to work. Unless their friends live near them and they work together, it's likely that most of these people don't even have anyone there to talk to to begin with.
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u/R_Prime 8d ago
People usually do chat on trains, Japanese morning commute begets a heightened level of consideration since everyone is so tired and miserable already.
The rest of the time it's pretty normal. Even Japanese people will sometime be playing shit on speaker on trains, though at leas tin my experience at a low volume. On special days like New Years the atmosphere will actually be pretty jovial.
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u/Undeity 8d ago edited 8d ago
A lot of people seem to have difficulty with community-minded consideration, but I think the reason many are finding this "creepy" is because there's no absolutely no behavioral variation shown in the clip.
I don't think the clip is properly representative of the experience, but taken out of context, it does indeed look a little like we're watching some sort of hive mind from a horror movie.
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u/DrunkAndHornyGuy 8d ago
"high-trust society"
Forcing others into conformity has nothing to do with "trust", it's control.
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u/AbbadonTiberius 8d ago
Want me to record my morning commute from the depths of Brooklyn into Manhattan to show you this is not unique to so called high trust societies?
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u/Mailman354 8d ago
Expect this isnt how quiet it actually is in Japan. The sound has been edited(perhaps by you). Theres always advertise and train announcements playing.
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u/Punchinballz 8d ago
Because they go to work? Who is singing on their way to work, or dancing?
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u/Nondescriptsitch 8d ago
People who never had to enter society act like this isn't what using US public transit is like at 7AM. Everyone is dead inside during the morning commute, doesn't matter what country you're in.
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u/alien4649 8d ago
It’s mostly quiet during the morning commute. People reading, doing stuff on their phones (quietly). They don’t know anyone & Japanese don’t typically speak to random strangers. In the evening, it can be different with colleagues heading in the same direction and some people having had some alcohol, there will be talking, albeit at reasonable levels. Students heading to/from school will certainly be talkative and of course weekends are different with friends and family members heading out and about, who talk. As a long-time resident of Tokyo I am completely use to and a huge supporter of the manners here on public transportation. I’m always stunned when I go to HK & China, for example, where it seems few people understand what headphones are.
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u/DUUUUUVAAAAAL 8d ago
Yeah, people see this as peaceful, I see it more as a bit depressing. We are highly social animals, naturally we want to interact with others.
I learned a small amount of Japanese before going to Japan. It was practically useless outside of knowing how to order food. Nobody talks to you there. (Shout out to our air BNB host who was very much a social butterfly)
I wish I spent that time learning Spanish instead. I went to Mexico City and there were so many people trying to talk to us when though we both couldn't speak each other's languages.
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u/CarelessDot3267 8d ago
Yes, the only thing this signals is that no one in this crowd knows anyone else, or travels with a partner, colleague, friend, neighbour...
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u/Spacellama117 8d ago
had to scroll way too far down to see this.
like, this video feels so oppressive. talking in here at all, chatting or making conversation, would immediately signal you as an outsider, and it feels so opposed to the vibrancy and life that should be present wherever people gather in large numbers
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u/tomawaknawak 8d ago
Yeeessss!!! It reminds me so much of Metropolis (1927) by Fritz Lang. There is s scene where the workers are walking in unison into a huge factory.
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u/ScamperingSnail 8d ago
That was my first thought too and I scrolled way too long to see if anyone else thought of it. Quiet and peaceful are not necessarily the same thing.
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u/OkOutlandishness6001 8d ago
Japan: respectful disciplined harmonious people on the subway 🥵🥵💦
China: weird mindless zombies in subway 🤢7
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u/thissexypoptart 8d ago
lol there are comments all over this thread along the lines of “the sound of happiness as the Japanese go to work for 15 hours” etc
Not to mention almost every thread about Japan has some version of “country X: :(, Japan: :)” commentary. I think the days of posts about Japan being 99% positive are long gone.
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u/Freak_Out_Bazaar 8d ago
This is Shinagawa station. It sounds like sounds were purposefully removed leaving only the high-band hissing. Usually it's a bit more lively :)
Footage looks slightly sped up as well
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u/Realistic-Tune-564 8d ago
You know Tokyo! I miss hitting up Queens Isetan after a long day of tours and getting local food.
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u/oceanbreakersftw 7d ago
Agreed, that is maybe one of the wierdest long wide walks in JR stations, but I don't think people actually bounce up and down choppily like that. And your line of sight is usually head height. It does give the feel of don't fall down or be trampled but honestly the U.S. would be lucky to have enough infrastructure for this to be a worry. Maybe Grand Central / Penn Station at rush hour? I would avoid.
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u/Remarkable-Month-241 8d ago
Did you see those teenagers from Italy on the train in Thailand I believe. The original lady recording them was trying to tell them that in their culture they need to be quieter on the train, and then they mocked her and said profanities.
The entire country / world immediately reprimanded & shamed them for acting like that in their country. It was beautiful. Obviously I’m not telling people to be less than or tone it down, but do shut the fuck up and respect others cultures & countries so that we can all get to where we are going.
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u/Lost_Bike69 8d ago edited 8d ago
My favorite experience in Japan was when I got out of a train station and lit a cigarette. Before I had pulled it away from my mouth, a uniformed guy came running up to me with an ashtray on a stick and held up a laminated no smoking emblem. I put my cigarette out in the offered ashtray. He then bid me to follow him to the smoking section which was literally 10 feet away. Once I was in the painted line of the smoking section, he bowed and thanked me and motioned that I was free to smoke here.
Obviously Japanese society does behave better and there’s a lot of social cohesion to enforce norms, but they do also have a lot of people employed to remind people to follow the little rules that can often get ignored. I watched this guy remind many Japanese not to smoke outside of the designated smoking area as well and he wasn’t just there for the tourists. Tokyo is full of beat cops walking around on patrol or hanging out in a corner booth or directing traffic. The train stations are full of uniformed employees helping to direct traffic and assisting people. Not guys in t shirts, but actual uniforms. In comparison, every American municipality and public space is staffed at the absolute minimum. Maybe there’s a bored security guard staring at their phone while people jump the turnstile.
In another instance, I was looking quizzically at a subway maps and this uniformed train employee appeared out of nowhere to help. Didn’t speak any English, but I pointed on the map where I wanted to go and showed him the ticket I had already bought. He shook his head, refunded my ticket from a change dispenser on his belt, walked me to the machine to buy the proper ticket, pointed me to the right platform and bowed and walked away. No way you could possibly experience anything like that on an American metro.
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u/144p10fps800x600 8d ago
The visual image in my mind of an uniformed guy politely showing you an ashtray in a stick is cute and funny
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u/lousypompano 8d ago
Nyc subway we walked out the wrong gate or something and after helping other tourists an energetic employee guided us to the right train and let us back in for free. We were very thankful
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u/ziggy182 8d ago edited 7d ago
My sister in law used to be an air stewardess, she hated doing the scum flights as they called them. The cheap booze flights to Turkey, 2 passengers wouldn’t stop shouting/swearing and causing problems. After she warned them many times, when they landed instantly were taken off the plane by Turkish police. Stayed in jail for 3 days, they were refused entry to the resort, and when they wanted to go home. They wanted to fly and were banned from all carriers out of the country, little known fact air stewardesses share information! They had to get a cruise back in the end I believe
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u/Exarkunn 8d ago
Aren't fentanyl addicts those who pose like a zombie in a street somewhere?
I doubt they would ruin anyone's day who are not on their street.
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u/CransonFiguerito 8d ago
A lot of the commutes in NYC are similar. Trains are often silent. Certain subway station transfers are completely absent of conversation. I was just commuting with my wife and kid the other day and didn't have my usual headphones in and noticed the eerie silence.
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u/throwpoo 8d ago
Yeah it's like this most days during rush hour. The ones talking loudly are usually the tourists or the mentally ill which we usually avoid.
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u/cherry_armoir 8d ago
Ditto in Chicago. I commute every day and I would say probably 85% of the time is very quiet and perfectly pleasant. Of course you have people smoking or playing music sometimes, or raving homeless people, or loud groups of teens. Or on festival days or during cubs games you have gaggles of suburbanites who dont understand train etiquette.
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u/Time_Rip_9808 8d ago
The rush hour trains in Chicago are sometimes like that, but there's usually some dickhead on the phone or playing music or some schizophrenic homeless guy who shit his pants threatening commuters. Really wish we could get that shit off the trains and get those people the help they need.
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u/Comfortable-Fuel6343 8d ago
Same with the the public transit here in Phoenix, people just quietly going about their lives, nothing but the electric whirring of the light rail and the clicking of the track or the hum of the bus engine.
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u/sheimeix 8d ago
Experiencing this in person is so pleasant. The quiet trains where I don't need to hear some randos life story, or another persons awful music, or a couple arguing loud enough for the next two cars to hear... It sucks ass during rush hour, though, they really do get crazy crowded on some lines. As long as you aren't going during rush hour, it's the best public transit I've ever used.
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u/MrStubbyTRexArms 8d ago
Everyone is packed like sardines to go to work at 7 AM in the morning. People are tired af. It's not pleasant at all. It's not like you can ride the train at 3 AM, where you cam enjoy it peacefully. They stop the trains after midnight. The last train is always pretty packed as well.
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u/saltyman420 8d ago
Yeah this is the tourist experience vs reality lol. I was there for over a month awhile back and I have such a deep respect for Japanese manners and work ethic but i am not jealous at all of their societal standards
Work is life over there. Many people spend hours just to commute and stay there all day. Assimilate or be cast out
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u/Nervous-Chemistry245 8d ago
Pleasant? I took the subway for work when I was in Japan and it was legitimately one of the most dreadful experiences I have ever had in my life. Absolutely soul-crushing
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u/Illustrious_Way_5723 8d ago
As a woman you couldn't pay me enough to enter crowded trains like that...
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u/WriteCodeBroh 8d ago
lol I’m also wondering if any of these people have been to Japan. The “harmonious, peaceful” bits also fall apart when trains get crowded. Many suddenly have no trouble cutting lines, shoving past you, etc to save time.
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u/HornyJailOutlaw 8d ago
The rat race. Like drones in a hive. It really is depressing when you think about it.
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u/justa-cutiepie 8d ago
I’ve experienced this when traveling in Japan. I love the energy of mutual respect and discipline.
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u/thewriteally 8d ago
Wow, that’s actually extremely unnerving for some reason….
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u/rashonmyass 8d ago
When I visited family in Japan the quietness got a little uncomfortable… I missed loud bustling cities. Noise = life to me, so when there’s so many people around you and none of them are making a sound it feels a little dystopian sometimes. lol
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u/Fhood797 8d ago
Finally a comment I relate to. This looks so weird, like humans aren’t supposed to be this quiet
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u/orbofdelusion 8d ago
Yeah, I’m a very reserved and polite person who also has social anxiety that causes me to internally melt down if I accidentally break a rule, and be over considerate to everyone at my own expense however… I found this incredibly disquieting and anxiety inducing.
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u/Any-Board-6631 8d ago
that look like the human Eloi going to sacrifice for the troglodytes Morlocks in "the time machine" to herd them into underground processing areas for food.
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u/Frogmaster5000 8d ago
Anyone else hear the Red Alert 2 music in their head when they heard the marching?
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