トレイン・トレイン

In the 5th most peaceful country in the world, I saw the first train altercation last night. While passing Osaki on the Yamanote line, I heard shouting and a loud thump right behind me. I immediately turned back and saw a standing young man grabbing an older man's neck who was sitting pressing his head against the window. The young man started repeating in Japanese "What do you mean it can't be helped?". Soon after, a couple of passengers interfered very politely and asked if everything was fine and tried to quietly help the two men resolve their issues. The young man was surprisingly polite to everyone else and even started smiling and laughing with them. When the other people decided to back off, the young man continued to yell at the old man and took the old man's newspaper and ripped it up in front of him. A couple of new people crowded with the young man and again politely started to resolve the situation peacefully. This time they continued to be with them until everyone including myself got off at Shinjuku station. On the way out, I heard one man yell at them "Lets get along!".

Being the nosy guy I am, I had to ask the details of the whole commotion and what started it, because my Japanese is the same level as a 7 year kid. Apparently, the young guy was standing in front of the old man in the crowded train. The old man either kicked or stepped on the young man's foot. The young man who looked like a cross between a skater and a punk wearing sandals was a bit agitated and asked the old man "Why do you keep stepping/kicking me?" and the old man rudely replied "Its a crowded train, that's how it goes" and continued to read his newspaper. Obviously it wasn't a very smart answer in this situation and aggravated an over emotional guy which ultimately led to the old man having a bruised neck and an unreadable newspaper.

On a positive note to this matter was that even though the cause was pretty ridiculous and over dramatic, it was very encouraging to see other people interfering and not let the situation get out of hand in a peaceful matter. The Japanese society is usually depicted around the world and even in their own culture as being passive, sometimes too passive where people do not want to interfere in one's business even if a helpless person is in need. I'm happy to say that times are changing.