At about 2150 last night after an abnormally long wait, "jinshin jiko/人身事故" was announced over the train speakers. The packed Chuo Line Rapid remained stranded at Ogikubo station. Local trains on other platforms whittled away glum passengers who were close enough to home to attempt detours.
The term, literally translated into "human accident", usually means that someone has stepped onto the Afterlife Express. For everyone else, especially non-Japanese speakers like me who have trouble with alternative transport arrangements, it means a 45 minute delay.
It is in equal measures a tragedy and a ripe candidate for western-centric sociological study, but I was still fuming. Insensitive much?
Well, my callous annoyance does not match the train company billing the deceased's family for the disruption. The missus says this is Japanese and only to be expected. In corresponding tradition the bill is ignored.
The Chuo Line (中央線) is so well known as a suicide alley that it's in English Wikipedia, so it's especially frustrating to hear the apologetic nasal announcement and see the confirmation notice playing between peppy advertisements on the cabin screens, because you will have passed half a dozen stations with naked platforms; no barriers that could have easily prevented this inconvenience.
In February 2014 there were 101 jinshin jikos in Japan (3 on the Chuo line). That's about one person scraped off the Chuo tracks every fortnight. Tokyo lines match those in regional areas, but there are more of them.
The term, literally translated into "human accident", usually means that someone has stepped onto the Afterlife Express. For everyone else, especially non-Japanese speakers like me who have trouble with alternative transport arrangements, it means a 45 minute delay.
It is in equal measures a tragedy and a ripe candidate for western-centric sociological study, but I was still fuming. Insensitive much?
Well, my callous annoyance does not match the train company billing the deceased's family for the disruption. The missus says this is Japanese and only to be expected. In corresponding tradition the bill is ignored.
The Chuo Line (中央線) is so well known as a suicide alley that it's in English Wikipedia, so it's especially frustrating to hear the apologetic nasal announcement and see the confirmation notice playing between peppy advertisements on the cabin screens, because you will have passed half a dozen stations with naked platforms; no barriers that could have easily prevented this inconvenience.
In February 2014 there were 101 jinshin jikos in Japan (3 on the Chuo line). That's about one person scraped off the Chuo tracks every fortnight. Tokyo lines match those in regional areas, but there are more of them.
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