mikazooki 0 Posted March 19, 2003 Share Posted March 19, 2003 ...or other public transport titbits: i remember a fine experience listening to a bit of funky disco sat in the three seater at the front of the carriage, boppin the nog to the beat and in subway-never-never-land, when i look across and the three punters opposite are all boppin in time as well. (a little bit gerling for those who know what i mean) same blank look on everyones face, but groovin to that same beat. quite surreal. ooh, and sorry about two in one go, but talkling of surreal experiences... after being told by a few unknowns i had a small head, the topic was discussed, and it was pointed out to me that japanese people have big heads... well, this truth chose a moment to dawn on me when in the subway. the guy across fom me had a huge noggin. so did the dude next him, in fact they all did. gargantuan spheres on their little bodies. it was all very alien and very freaky. but i held my composure and didnt scream out loud. just calmly got off at the next stop. hmmm thinking about it the world has become more normal since i stoppped using the subway. Link to post Share on other sites
zwelgen 0 Posted March 19, 2003 Share Posted March 19, 2003 I was sitting on a train in Osaka and the dude next to me says in a loud voice eins! zwei! drei! vier! there was then a pause...and then he says in loud voice: pupata pupata pupata pup while waving his hand infront of me like he was a conductor or something. The people on the other side of the carridge look at me. I look at them with fear in my eyes. The eins, zwei, drei, vier pupata pupata pupata pup happens about 4 or 5 times. We pull into a stn somewhere along the line and just as the door was about to shut the dude dashes out. When he stands up I can see he is about 5 foot 1 and hes wearing a suit. Very odd Link to post Share on other sites
damian 0 Posted March 19, 2003 Share Posted March 19, 2003 My GF and I catch the train each morning. Besides the fact that it is the most revoulting crowd experience either of us have ever had, not a lot happens. we pass the time by looking at peoples ears. The Japanese have very weird ears when you have a close look at them. I also like to complain loudly about the 3rd world lack of fresh air/ventilation. I also like to ride in the very front carriage at the drivers window and immitate his really stragnge noises and finger pointing as we proceed down the track. I am sure his noises are just Japanese words with over-emphasise, but they sound funny. BUBABOOOOOOO, EEEEEEEEEEEEE, NNNNNOOOOOOOOOO. Link to post Share on other sites
MistaSparkle 0 Posted March 19, 2003 Share Posted March 19, 2003 okay... now this has happened to me on more than one occasion. It's always bizarre, and equally infuriating.... When used to ride the Hanzomon line everyday after work, there's usually no seats when I get on, so I stand in the little space between the doors and the seat and mind my own business reading a mag or whatever.... When you're standing in that space you end up leaning on the doors, and sometimes there's someone standing on the other side of the doors. This leaves about a foot gap between you and the person on the other side. Every once and a while, some weasel businessman with reading material in hand will come and squeezes himself into that space!!! Even when there is plenty of space in other parts of the train!! WTF is that?!?! So I usually just stand there for about 20 seconds incredulously staring at the guy and then leave in disgust.... but the dude usually keeps his weasel-ass nose in his book and ignores the situation. A**hole! Link to post Share on other sites
mogski 0 Posted March 19, 2003 Share Posted March 19, 2003 In 6 years of riding the Yamanote I have way too moany, but the most prevelant to date was being sat on by a huge arse person who thought that their six foot lard arse could fit into to a 20cm gap! There is something not at all nice about being sat on by fat people. Oh and I picked up badmigraines now wife on the train. Link to post Share on other sites
RayInJapan 0 Posted March 19, 2003 Share Posted March 19, 2003 MS - next time tell him "do ke!", and if that doesnt work, try putting your hand on his ass like he probably does to japanese women. db - you always crack me up... Link to post Share on other sites
Ocean11 0 Posted March 19, 2003 Share Posted March 19, 2003 Subways? What are subways? Oh hang on a minute, I remember them ... vaguely. Don't have any business going underground these days... Link to post Share on other sites
snowboard_freak 0 Posted March 19, 2003 Share Posted March 19, 2003 I always get some sick pleasure in seeing people half falling asleep and then hitting their heads on the seat in front, or the metal bar behind them. You know if your sitting up and you are falling asleep and you get those damn head rolls. Didn't see it in Japan, but i've seen it several times here and it always makes me giggle. Link to post Share on other sites
ferguson 0 Posted March 19, 2003 Share Posted March 19, 2003 I hate them especially in the summer when the "perfume" at 5pm on a hot and sticky evening is not not not nice. Link to post Share on other sites
woywoy 0 Posted March 19, 2003 Share Posted March 19, 2003 Not the subway but I suppose the bus is close enough. So I get on the bus kinda late at night and there is this weird guy who smells a bit funny in the disabled seat (the kind of seats that flip back up so people can slot their wheelchairs in there if needed). I dont think much of it until he starts doing huge "rockets" with his nose. For the uninformed, a "rocket" involves blocking one nostril with your finger and then blowing as hard as you can to get all the snot and crap out of your nose when you dont have a tissue or whatever handy. So, people start getting up from the other disabled seats after this and rightly so... but even worse, me and my mate discover that he has a bloody catheter and his fly is wide open so the whole world can see in! He also has a bag filled with his own piss right next to a bottle of bourbon that he is taking swigs from every two seconds. He keeps getting up and walking round the bus ready to spill this bag on random people... needless to say it was a nightmare of a bus trip after a long night at work. Link to post Share on other sites
enderzero 0 Posted March 25, 2003 Share Posted March 25, 2003 db - I noticed the same thing about the conductor's finger pointing recently. I like to try to figure out the way things work by watching, but was completely clueless about how what the conductor was doing to the controls at all affected the way the train ran. Why do they do the finger point thing? Just a part of their training? Link to post Share on other sites
damian 0 Posted March 25, 2003 Share Posted March 25, 2003 yeah, I reckon it is training. It reminds me of military teaching techniques where you do things by drill. Perhaps they are taught that you need to acknowledge the passing of a particular sign or signal light and teh condition that it has (red, green, whatever) and to ensure that it is done they are probably trained (big pun) to physically point at it and say aloud the appropriate response. In gunnery training in a tank you would run through a safety drill and say it aloud every time whilst pointing at the things as you verbally checked them off. Like you I enjoy handing by their window and watching the control panel. I like the special little holder that they have for the standard issue JR fob watch. I think I can see them building up the amperage with one knob or lever but buggered if i know how they accelerate. As for the pointing and my theory thereof: the drivers seem to point when there is nothing to point at in terms of signals or signs. I reckon they are pointing at chicks hooters and rating them out of ten, viz: Saannn! Yonnnnnn! Gooooo!!!! JUUUUUUUU!!!!!!!!!! Link to post Share on other sites
Ocean11 0 Posted March 25, 2003 Share Posted March 25, 2003 It's the outward manifestation of the 'Japan is Safety Country' mentality. At my last company there was an unfortunate trend for employees to borrow company cars and then run people over with them. So the totally irrelevent 'yosh' check was introduced. You had a little list of things to check and you were encouraged to go around pointing with your finger and to say 'yosh' out loud as you identified each point. "This vehicle has 4 wheels - yosh!" "The tyres are fully inflated - yosh!" "There is blood on the front and rear bumpers - yosh!" I think JR has a very involved version of this system, which I believe is a Japanese standard. The JR checks cover every possible operational aspect including; "My flies are zipped - yosh!" "My little white gloves are on and I do not have two fingers in the pinky slot - yosh!" "The underseat heaters are turned up so high as to poach the eggs of all the male passengers - yosh!" "The light we just went through while I was checking my flies was red - yosh!" Link to post Share on other sites
damian 0 Posted March 25, 2003 Share Posted March 25, 2003 I must admit, i just pissed myself laughing. Good work Ocean! What does 'yosh' actually mean? Link to post Share on other sites
nzlegend 1 Posted March 25, 2003 Share Posted March 25, 2003 Quote: Originally posted by Ocean11: "The underseat heaters are turned up so high as to poach the eggs of all the male passengers - yosh!" awesome post Oceans, but that is the one thing that sh*ts me to tears, the incredibly hot underseat heaters, what the hell is with that? the crap local line I ride has the worlds hottest seats Link to post Share on other sites
zwelgen 0 Posted March 25, 2003 Share Posted March 25, 2003 Oh oh ocean I just about sprayed coffee all over my screen. What a way to start the day. Cheers! Link to post Share on other sites
Antonio 0 Posted March 25, 2003 Share Posted March 25, 2003 Cheers again...bad dose of the giggles here and a few stares to go with it.... Link to post Share on other sites
enderzero 0 Posted March 25, 2003 Share Posted March 25, 2003 You cloak and dagger forum readers at work must have to really try hard not to bust out laughing at some of these threads. Tough? Link to post Share on other sites
BagOfCrisps 24 Posted March 25, 2003 Share Posted March 25, 2003 Tough, tough for us non Japan dudes working out what some of them means. As db said, what exactly is "yosh"? Link to post Share on other sites
Ocean11 0 Posted March 25, 2003 Share Posted March 25, 2003 Well that one seems to have gone down rather well. 'Yosh' is just an affirmative noise equivalent to OK! or Right! The finger pointing routine is supposed to be a fail-safe method -- how can you possibly point at something and say 'yosh' and yet fail to see that something is wrong? Trouble is, people get so carried away with it that, yes, they do fail to see the car was in reverse when they had 'yoshed' it to be in drive. (This sometimes happens to me too, but at least I haven't previously made a fool of myself by pointing at everything like a 5 month old baby.) Link to post Share on other sites
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