a-cubed.info

There have been a number of pieces I’ve read about the way English people behave on trains and the underground. The most detailed was Kate Fox’s “Watching the English”. The main rules for the English are:

• Don’t talk to anyone.
• You may ask for information about what stop it is, or may grumble (preferably in an ironic manner) about delays or maybe the weather, to each other.
• If you have travelled regularly (i.e. most days for years) with a particular traveller, then you might nod to them each day.
• Newspapers are for hiding behind.
• Never meet the gaze of someone else or if you do, break the eye contact as soon as possible.
• When using a mobile phone always shout, preferably starting the call with “I’m on the train!” or “I’m on the train! Yes, on the train! Can you hear me?”. Whenever possible make highly private phone calls and laugh often, loudly and annoyingly whenever feasible.
• Ignore the “quiet carriage” signs or even walk the entire length of the platform at Paddington to get on to the quiet carriage with a small child and a cat.
  OK, so I made this one up after the second time in a week in December finding people in the quiet carriage with a sub-5 yo child. The first family that did this had the mother tell the child to be quiet because it was the quiet carriage very early on in the trip and then herself became much louder than the child in a card game she instigated. It was the second family who had the cat, who was much quieter than the homo insapiens.
• When people ignore the quiet carriage signs sigh, tut quietly and look pointedly at the “quiet carriage” signs but under no circumstances verbally point out to people that it is the quiet carriage.

The Japanese clearly share some of these rules: (more…)

In an attempt to avoid being squashed too much on my first proper working day in Tokyo, I left it until after 9am to get the train into Tokyo. Leaving Ikuta station at 09:15 or so, the local stopping train wasn’t particularly full. As usual I got off the local train at tongue-twisting Mukogaoka-Yuen to pick up one of the faster express services. That arrived on an adjacent platform while the local stopping train was still there but was already pretty full before the group off my train got on to it, and I’d ended up at the back of the queue (see another post I’ll make today for queueing and other etiquette on trains in Tokyo). So, I decided to hop back on the local train and pass one more station up to the easier to pronounce (and remember) Noborito and catch the next express from there, figuring it might be less crowded by then. I could have just waited at Mukogaoka-Yuen, but what the heck. I was nearer the front of the queue at Noborito to get on the next semi-express (between Noborito and Shinjuku the semi-express and the express are identical). This was still pretty crowded but when we got to the next express stop, another tongue-twister – Seijogakuen-Mae, even more people got on and very few got off. It wasn’t quite white-gloves packing people in. As Murata-sensei put it, we could all still breathe. But even so, it was pretty sardine-like in there.

(more…)

I was finally over my jetlag today enough to think about going out on my own and seeing some of Tokyo’s attractions. In preparation for Tuesday 9th, my first real working day here (Monday is a public holiday), I took the train from the guest house where I’m staying through to Ochanomizu station, which is the nearest one to Meiji University. Ikuta station on the private Odakyu line is five minutes walk from the guest house. Ikuta is in Kawasaki city, a South-Western suburb of Tokyo. To get to Ochanomizu, I use the Odakyu line to get to Shinjuku (the busiest train station in the world) by going one stop on the first train that stops at Ikuta (the local, section semi-express and semi-express trains) then get on the express train (the rapid express doesn’t stop at Mukougaoka-Yuuen) for the rest of the journey (seven stops instead of 18). Then I have to pass through a ticket barrier on the JR local rail lines. Think Paris with not just the Metro and RER but with Metro and RER and some private lines attached to each type. It’s not that complicated but it’s a bit fiddly. I now know how much the standard journey I’m making will cost (430 yen each way). Unfortunately, there’s far less financial benefit in getting passes on the local Tokyo trains than in London, although I’ll be looking into it anyway. The money may not be much difference, but at least it’ll be less hassle than buying a ticket every time.
(more…)

The nearest JR line station to Meiji University Central Campus is Ochanomizu. O-chya is tea (as in char), no is a possessive, and mizu means cold water. Ochanomizu therefore means cold water for making tea. I asked Murata-sensei and he confirmed that the station is near the site of the fortified Imperial Palace area which had a spring used for making tea.

Well, I’m sitting here in the Ikuta guest house in Kawasaki city – a suburb of Tokyo where Meiji University has one of its three campuses. Unfortunately, I’m not working at the nearby Ikuta campus, but at the central Tokyo one. My host is collecting me at lunchtime tomorrow and showing me where to go. The University is closed until Tuesday (the university observes a long Christmas/New Year holiday and then Monday is a public holiday in Japan) but he’s going to show me where things are and introduce me to the head of his unit and a few of the grad students who’ll be in as well.

I didn’t get much sleep the night before flying out. I hate morning flights. My Mother took me to Heathrow. We had been planning on grabbing a coffee together after I checked in but there was a horrendous-looking line to get into the security checkpoint area (after which there’s another long line for the scanning itself) so we joined the back of the line straightaway after checking in. There was no problem with the luggage I’d brought (despite it being 70% more than the luggage allowance). The queue wasn’t too bad, as it turned out. It kept moving and we were only waiting in it for fifteen minutes. So I said goodbye to Mum at that point and headed into the departure lounge with plenty of time. There were no delays or problems with the flights and I managed to buy an upgrade with frequent flier points from Copenhagen to Narita. I still didn’t get much sleep on the plane despite this, but at least
it was more comfortable and better food. So, I arrived pretty much on time at Narita and waited an age for my luggage, but it came through OK.

(more…)