May
21

Abusive Japanese Police in Asakusa Tokyo

What I saw today is one of the most unbelievable and atrocious things I have ever seen in my life. It disgusted me to the core, and showed me a side of Japan even darker than I had seen up until now. It showed me just how far the Abusive Japanese police will go to prove their point.

This morning, I decided to take a jog along the Sumida river. As I approached the Asakusa area, I heard loud voices, like screaming, in the distance. Something had just happened. Not something good. As I got closer, police cars were arriving, and helicopters were already above on scene. As I approached the main bridge in Asakusa, police boats started to fill the water, and then somebody up on the bridge yelled, “OVER THERE”, in Japanese while pointing their finger.
It was at this moment that I saw it.

Im going to pause here and say that the next little bit gets quite tough to read (I know this as it was tough to write).
If you don’t think you can handle it, it might be best to stop reading here.

 

In the water, face down as in so many movies. There was a man floating. But this was no movie. And the sight of this took hold of me and my stomach tightened, my knees began to shake, and my eyes began to water. Little more than back, shoulders, and the back of this mans head could be seen, but it was a sight that I will not forget.

The police did their best to get to this man. Paramedics and emergency crews were nowhere in sight.
The police boat pulled up, and after about a minute of BS they finally managed to get him out of the water.

But it was how they pulled him out that was nothing shy of disgusting. They grabbed the back of his shirt collar and just pulled him by the collar out of the water as if he were a dog. Then, they left him face down on the edge of the boat. No checking for a pulse, to attempt to help in any way.
A human… A fellow country-man… treated like little more than.. I can’t even finish this sentence.

They got him to a dock and as they placed him down, the air they carried was “ok.. were done”. It was after about a minute or two of this that an Indian man standing about 20 meters down from me started screaming in Japanese.

G#%DAMNIT!! HE MIGHT STILL BE ALIVE! CHECK HIM YOU IDIOTS, he yelled.

Everyone around looked shocked, and amazingly, so did the police.
But even more amazing, was the fact that they then checked for a pulse, and started to try CPR.
Why did it take this long for them to do this???? Why did not even one of the 10-20 officers standing there think to take any action?

Unfortunately the man didn’t regain consciousness.

As they brought him up from the river bank, we all started to move on. It was at this moment that I noticed the Indian gentleman was carrying a baby only a few months old.
He nodded his head politely as our eyes met, and we made our way down the street separately.

As we at the intersection, two police walked up beside the man with the baby.
I guess he must have still been upset, because he started telling them that the mans life was on their hands.
It was at this point that things started to get out of hand.

Abusive Japanese Police

Abusive Japanese Police in Asakusa Japan

Note: for the sake of protecting his privacy, I have not included a picture of the man who was speaking to these “officers of the law”

The man in the picture on the right started telling the man go back to his own country.
He repeatedly told the Indian man, “You are not Japanese, so you don’t matter. Go back to your own country”
I hadn’t noticed until this moment, but the (Indian) man had tears running down his face.
He was not aggressive or loud at this point, but he was clearly determined to make these officers understand.

As he persisted with his message, the unbelievable happened. Even though he was standing with a baby in his arms, the Japanese police officer on the left (above) used the flotation device in his arm to very aggressively shove the Indian gentleman. But unfortunately he didn’t just shove the man, the flotation device came in direct contact with the baby, and shoved both of them.

It was at this point that the Indian gentleman went to shove the officer on the left back, but was grabbed by the officer on the right who told him “if you touch either of us, I will arrest you. Then it’s over for you”

The man stopped in his tracks. Defeated by his dirty foe.
I watched in disgust and snapped as many pictures of these two trash bag cops as I could.
For the sake of everyone’s reference, here is a more clear shot of the violent cop:

Abusive Police in Japan

The aggressive and abusive police officer

This all took place near the Hanakawado Koban where these 2 officers seem to work.

This type of thing cannot continue if Japan ever wants to move into the future.
There is so much more I want to add, but I will leave it here for now.

*Closing Note: While I have tried to remain as clear and accurate in this post as possible, I should close by saying that the details of the gentleman with the baby, have been slightly edited in the hopes of protecting his privacy from anyone who may read this. Fully accurate details have been used to file a complaint which will probably never see the light of day.

Oct
26

Another Japanese Police Fail

Any quick search on a news page will show you that the Japanese police are not the most upstanding citizens. And Kazuo Hayashi, a 58-year-old police chief in Gunma has given us all one more article to read on this topic.

I’ll start by making it clear that I’m not saying that police in other countries are any better than police in Japan, but it does seem that the Japanese police get caught by the media a little more.

According to Japantoday (yea… I know…), the police chief showed up at the scene of a fire drunk. And if that wasn’t enough, he figured he would add some spice to the evening by shouting and verbally abusing some of the locals.
Now for most of us, a drunk police chief verbally abusing locals would seem pretty bad as it is, but for Mr. Hayashi, it just wasn’t enough.
When verbal abuse didn’t meet the sadistic needs of his evening out, he moved straight into physical abuse by slapping a subordinate.

Additionally, the news source mentions that this Gunma police chief has denied driving to the scene…

Does any one else believe this? Really?

You will have to forgive me for not taking the drunken chief at his word, but have you ever been to Gunma?
Gunma doesn’t exactly have the most elaborate public transportation system and isn’t exactly the type of place where he could just walk to the scene… But yea. The drunken violent man says he didn’t drive there… Let’s just take him at his word. (You know that his bosses will!)

And after all of this, he suffers little more than a departmental change and perhaps a little discipline…
And I’m sure the incident will be described at a later date as regrettable (that’s if it’s covered at all).

In the past year there have been countless cases of Japanese police causing trouble and harassing citizens throughout the country.  And these police officers have ranged from fresh recruits to police chiefs alike…

There is so much more that I could say about the Japanese police, and so much more that I eventually will. But for now, I thought it time for a bit of an update, and this J-win story caught my eye~

 

 

Sep
03

Japanese Upskirt Chikan – Sexual Harassment on Japanese Trains

In the last week, there have been 3 major chikan cases to hit the news related to upskirt photos and upskirt videos here in Japan. The Ex-IBM Japan president, an Osaka assistant-judge, and a Tokyo Metro employee.
In answer to your question: Yes. Japanese men are perverts. And while I would have loved to include the word “some” in that sentence, the more I look into this issue and reflect on my own experiences, the harder it is to consider including that word.

The really scary part is that a) Upskirt Chikan is a common issue/news story in Japan, and b) The Japanese man in question (a.k.a. the “chikan” or pervert) usually shows little-to-no regret. In fact, unless their company goes under scrutiny for it, they usually act like taking pictures up women’s skirts is as natural as asking for her phone number…

When I sit down to write things like this, it’s really difficult to figure out where to start…
The Japanese upskirt issue is one of great magnitude and so I will humbly offer little more than the basic facts along with my thoughts and experiences.

Let’s start simply with only the cases within the last week.

Ex-IBM Japan President Turned Chikan
Takuya Otoshi, the ex-president of IBM Japan used an iPod as his camera of choice when filming an upskirt video of a Japanese woman on an escalator in Tokyo station. And while Tokyo police, in all their useful glory, have (at this point) refused to confirm any allegations, the man’s statement that he was interested in voyeurism, pretty much speaks for itself.

Osaka Assistant Judge Takes His Pervert Oath
When Toshiki Hanai (who even as an assistant judge is surprisingly only 27-years-young) was arrested for squatting and attempting to get upskirt photos with his cellphone, he told police that he was wondering what kind of underwear the woman was wearing. Examination of his cellphone found that he was a curious little chikan judge who seemed to wonder what MANY women’s underwear looked like!

Perverted Tokyo Metro Employee Wants In On The Fun
This one doesn’t really surprise me. Have you ever met a Tokyo Metro Employee? They often remind me of the seedy looking stock-boys that you might find working through the night at a discount super market.
This particular winner was a 38-year-old electrician who fancied long walks on the beach and upskirt photography in Shibuya crossing. And surprise, surprise…. An investigation quickly uncovered more photos and videos taken at various stations and within various train cars.

And keep in mind, this has all just been in the last week…
Welcome to chikan.
…oops.. Sorry. Misspelled that.
I mean, Welcome to Japan.

The lines are starting to get fuzzy and it’s getting hard to differentiate. In the same way that many Japanese believe that the word 和 “wa” or “Harmony” means Japan, I am beginning to feel that the word “Chikan” means Japan.

The case of the IBM president doesn’t really surprise or concern me all that much. Middle-aged Japanese salary man with more money than common sense looking for a little excitement in his daily life. Seems unfortunately standard. If anything it reminds me of an upskirt chikan case from a while back that actually made me laugh.

Back in September of 2011, a Hosei University student in his early 20′s was arrested for taking an upskirt video of an 18-year-old girl on an escalator. His weapon of choice: An iPod Nano tied to his shoe.
I remember sitting and watching the news the night that this story broke loose. The school-aged chikan had apparently thought it a good idea to simply work the iPod Nano into his shoelaces. When the newscast showed a picture of his shoe with the iPod tied into it, it was so incredibly obvious that I couldn’t help but break into laughter at the half-assed approach of this up-and-coming pervert.

The police report said that when they searched his home computer, they found over 250 videos, of up to 200 different girls.

Wait.
Let’s take a moment to analyze that last statement: they found over 250 videos, of up to 200 different girls.

So do you mean to tell me that they actually watched through more than 250 upskirt videos and attempted to identify how many of these were different girls? Is that really a necessary point of information?! Or did these police simply want to create a seemingly legitimate reason to watch over 250 upskirt chikan videos?
Kinda sounds like a cop taking away weed, and going back to the station to smoke it and test if it is really medical or not…

And if you are doubting for a single second that this is the case, don’t allow yourself to be fooled into a false sense of security. It is not uncommon whatsoever for even the police in Japan to be caught taking upskirt videos. Almost yearly there are stories on the news of this. And if we  do not conservatively assume that the police manage to successfully hide even half of these police chikan cases, the number of stories still too daunting.

In 2011 the National Police Agency reported a 23% rise in Japanese police misconduct leading to disciplinary action. And unfortunately, police misconduct in Japan doesn’t stop at upskirt photography or chikan. Japanese police have been known to start fights on trains while off-duty, or even go as far as rape.
Once again, I wish I could say that all of these were rare cases.

It’s just so incredibly common. And is may be happening around us at any given time.

A year or so ago, I was on the Chiyoda Line in Tokyo and was watching a Japanese man fall asleep on the train bench across from the one on which I was sitting. It was winter at the time and he had his jacket draped over his shoulders like a blanket. And as he fell asleep, he leaned lower and lower to the right. I couldn’t help but watch, as there was no-one beside him and I was sure he was just going to end up laying out flat on the bench.
And if I hadn’t watched him with the enthusiasm and intensity that I did, I might have missed it.

Something was odd. Although he seemed to be nodding off, his face seemed to have an unusual amount of focus in it. And that’s when I noticed that his eyelids were partially open and his eyes were moving. Not 2 seconds after, I noticed a little red light from inside his jacket. He was filming with his cellphone. I looked a few seats away from me and there was a girl in a school uniform who couldn’t have been older than 15.

I was surprised at first, and the surprise quickly turned to anger. And before I knew it, I was furious. I got out of my seat and stood right in front of him, blocking his view and the view of the camera. As the train was nearly empty, this action stood out. He “woke up” right away and I re-positioned myself in-between him and the girl again. This upset him.

He tried to move seats, but I once again, very directly positioned myself between him and the girl. He looked up and yelled at me in Japanese,  “WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU!?!” to which I could only reply “What the hell is wrong with YOU?!?”
He started at me shocked and irritated.
I unloaded on him (verbally) and he tried to get off at the next station. All I could do was follow him. And I did so… With volume. When I threatened to drag him to the koban, he finally gave in and said “FINE. I’ll delete the video“, to which I said “Ok. But I am going to stand here and watch you do it.”

He opened up his keitai and went to the videos section. The idiot pervert opens up the file to show me that it is the one he is deleting, and I take my chance. I grab the phone (which was attached to a lanyard around his neck) and scream out to a nearby Tokyo Metro station staff, who in all his glory sauntered over as if he was on his way to the bathroom. The entire time the man beside me was struggling to get back his phone.

I disconnected the phone from the lanyard, handed it to the staff and told him that the first video in it had just been taken by this man on the train. As he opened up the video, his face was that of pure shock and horror. By this time a security guard who had been alerted to the ruckus I had caused, had made his way over and the man was taken to the police. Luckily for me, the idiot Tokyo Metro staff didn’t have the sense to keep me around and he let me go.

The part of this that really made me think was the fact that the train wasn’t even crowded. It was near empty and this amateur upskirt videographer still had the nerve to try and get a shot.
Which begs the question, how common is this really?

I have searched and searched and not been able to find any solid, useable statistics.

But the simple fact that many trains have (time-designated) “Woman Only” cars, many stations and trains are constantly adding more and more cameras, and the fact that there are actual, specially trained under-cover chikan/upskirt video searching officers in many stations around Tokyo, should tell you that this is an alarmingly common issue.

So much that it can cause problems that don’t even exist. Some women end up becoming so incredibly paranoid and sensitive due to the sheer volume and presence of chikan that it is not uncommon for a woman to think that a perverted act has taken place even when it hasn’t. And while it’s easy to say that some of these Japanese women might just enjoy crying wolf, it’s also just as easy to see how the lines of sexual harassment and reality can be blurred when you are constantly surrounded by it.
And unfortunately, from time to time innocent men become the victims of these misunderstandings and some suffer greatly.

I remember being on the Yamanote line and watching two Japanese men in their 40′s facing each other, talking near the door. They seemed like friendly guys, and their conversation was one of quality. They were talking about their children and praising each others’ wives for the hard work they do.

I was enjoying some casual eavesdropping when a woman who had litterally just stepped off the train, turned around and in a move that she could only have learned in a billy blanks tae bo exercise video, swung at one of the men who not seconds before had been laughing while telling a story of something his child had done.

She screamed frantically for some reason accusing him of grabbing her ass. He looked terrified. Both him and his co-worker tried to reason with her and explain that no such event had taken place, but she wouldn’t hear anything of it. she grabbed the mans dress shirt by the button area and started trying to pull him off the train. As she pulled, his shirt ripped. More and more.
The entire time she was screaming for someone to help her. Within seconds, 2 guys stood up, grabbed the man and forced him off the train along with her. The station staff were already nearby on the platform, and his co-worker rushed out of the train with a very concerned look in his eyes. The door closed.

It all happened so incredibly fast. As the train pulled away, I had barely processed the events of the last 10-30 seconds and felt confused, scared, worried, and so many other things…
He hadn’t done anything. I know because I was standing right there. Listening and staring as if I were a Japanese person looking at a foreigner. But even knowing first-hand that he was innocent, after watching this woman’s reaction and the whole situation, I began to feel doubt for him. A completely illogical doubt. But she had been convincing. She genuinely seemed to believe that he had touched her on the train…
As I said, reality starts to blur, and it becomes tough to tell what has actually happened when these occurrences are so common.

A Japanese friend later told me that if this man was convicted of chikan, then he was basically finished. His life would be essentially over. That night, I hoped for this mans safe return to his wife and child.
It scared me to think that this simple family-man on his way home, could potentially have his life ruined by a misunderstanding caused by fear and clouded lines of reality.

This type of situation is something that many Japanese men fear. In my first couple weeks in Tokyo, I was on the train with a Japanese friend. One of my hands was on the handle and the other hand was by my side. He suddenly reached down, grabbed my wrist and held it up.

“Both hands up on trains. Imagine a gun is pointed at you. Both hands up or both hands busy”

These were the words of wisdom he passed on to me that day. He pointed out all of the other men around us, and to my surprise, almost every man standing, had both hands up in some form. Whether it be handle and book, handle and keitai, or just both hands up on handles and bars, almost every man (especially those standing near women) had 2 hands up.
I learned something valuable that day.

So really, these perverts taking upskirt pictures and videos or feeling chicks up on the train are making things harder for everyone. These chikan are a poison to Japan, and if you read my piece about the 14-year-old pervert, you will be able to see that things are only getting worse.

Why do these people think they can get away with chikan? Because they think nobody is looking. And I hate to say it, but most of the time they are right…

So Japan… It’s time to open your eyes. It’s time to reclaim Japan from the perverts.

Please take a minute and share this piece in any way you can.

For more reading on the Japanese Chikan situation please check out this document.

 

 

Jul
20

Bullying (Ijime) in Japan

“We’re glad he killed himself. We wanted him dead”
These were the words of the classmates who bullied a 13-year old boy to the point of suicide.

Disgust.

That is all I am left with as I turn off the TV and try to stop myself from booking a one-way ticket out of Japan.

And while I will start by saying that it is true that bullying is not specific to Japan, I would like to open by reminding you that this is The Japan Rants and therein I will be focusing on this country and how incredibly FUBAR the bullying/ijime situation is here.

This piece is not going to be pretty. So if you think there is even the slightest chance that you might not want to get in to this topic, I suggest you stop right here.

This post is meant to be more of a forum for comments and thoughts.
Honestly speaking I can’t wrap my head around this topic in the way that I would like to, and I want to hear your thoughts. Under the condition that we stick to the topic of Japan. Bullying in Japan.

I am not going to get deep into explaining the current bullying situation in Japan, as there is already a wealth of information available on this topic. One can easily find countless articles, and just to help those of you who are not entirely aware of the details or depth of this issue, I have posted links to a few here:

Facts And Details – Bullying in Japanese Schools [recommended read - detailed]

Education in Japan – Bullying Behavior in Japanese Schools

SeeTell – Japan’s War on Children: Bullying and Abuse

BBC News – Japans Deadly Bullying Problem

All Look Same? – Why Bullying is so Common in Japan

Reuters – Cyber-bullying in Japan

Video: 7-year-old boy being bullied

Now I’m going to assume that you didn’t actually go through and read all of them (although I chose these 5 for a reason and really do recommend reading them all), but providing that you took the time to read even one, you will have somewhat of a clear understanding as to the degree of the Japanese bullying issue.

I have read through all of them. More than once. and honestly I don’t even know where to start.

Bullying (ijime ) in Japan is so incredibly different than it is in the West and comes in a terrifying variety of shapes and forms. Sometimes it is physical, sometimes mental. But it always crosses the line. And in a country where people try to avoid conflict at all costs, it is rarely dealt with.

Japanese friends have shared stories of bullying that rang from mental warfare, to theft and destruction of personal property, all the way up to Japanese children (and when I say children, I am talking about 15-years-old or younger) sexually abusing classmates or even their classmates mothers.
And while mental warfare may not sound all that terrifying, just try to imagine your classmates forcing you to practice suicide techniques on a daily basis, and having the teachers and adults around you do nothing about it.

Some stories are heartbreaking, and others are nothing short of disgusting and frightening.

In the hopes of keeping this post short and to-the-point, I want to list some of the points that I find terrifying about Japan and ijime:

Suicide
The primary cause of suicide for individuals under 18 (a.k.a. children) in Japan is bullying.
Children as young as 10-years-old or younger have been and are continuing to be pushed to take their own lives.

Schools Deny It
I find it amazing that in a country where teachers will roam the streets at night to make sure kids from their schools are not out too late, that the teachers are the first to say there is no problem. Teachers, principals, and schools claim suicide-after-suicide that bullying was not the cause (no matter how much bullying actually occurred)

Teachers Are Targets Too
You will be hard-pressed to find a teacher in Japan who hasn’t been the victim of some form of bullying attempt. Many bullies in Japan will see the teacher as an obstacle to first be destroyed or stripped of any power/credibility before they take action on their targeted classmate. Some Japanese teachers have been known break down, explode, quit, or even commit suicide under this pressure.

Lack of Action by Parents
While I am sure that there are just as many parents who are making incredible efforts to support and help their bullied children, I can’t help but look at the numbers and wonder what the rest are (or aren’t) doing.
And what is worse, is the parents of the bullies. Why did these people have children if they are not going to take a more active role in their child’s healthy development. Instead, so many parents put the responsibility of their child’s development on the teachers. And we have already covered how great of an idea that is…

More Often Than Not, The Smart Kids Are The Bullies
In many parts of the West, the smart kids are the nerds. They are bullied as they don’t have the confidence or physical strength to protect themselves. But Japan is filled with intelligent children who somehow grow to think that due to their intellectual abilities or parents pay-grades, that their lives are somehow of more value than the lives of their bullied classmates. I cannot even begin to imagine what brings an elementary school child to try and convince a classmate to take their own life…

It’s Not Getting Better, It’s Getting Worse
Almost every year for the last decade, the number of reported bullying cases has increased. The most heartbreaking part of this is that we have barely scratched the surface. The majority of bullying cases in Japan tend to go unreported. And with the problem becoming deeper, and Japanese children becoming less and less forward, an increase in these numbers would seem to imply an overall increase in bullying cases in Japan.

The Problems That Follow
Being bullied can lead to countless problems. While some children may grow to become detached and live a life without connection or trust of anyone around them, others may lash out. in 1996 there was a boy who went as far as to cut off the head of one of this classmates, leaving the head on the school gate with a note in the mouth. The note read “this is the beginning of a game“.

There is so much to say and so much that has been said.
I wrote this piece because I needed to get it out. And now, I want to hear what you think. So please don’t hesitate share your thoughts, opinions, stories, etc.

Jun
15

Japanese Police and the Last of the Aum Fugitives

On the morning of March 20th, 1995, Japans capital city of Tokyo fell into panic and terror as members of a cult known as the Aum Shinrikyo released sarin nerve gas into the Tokyo Metro subway system.
13 people died, 50 were severely injured, and 1000′s of others were left with temporary vision difficulties. It was the worst terrorist attack in modern Japanese history and is talked about to this day.

As details about the events of this attack are readily available from a wide range of sources, I will say no more of the attack. Rather, I will focus on a single point… The fugitives, or rather the police’s “role” in bringing them in.

Today, June 15th, 2012, marks a significant moment in history, as the final remaining member of the Aum cult involved in the attack, Katsuya Takahashi, has finally been taken into police custody. And for all of Tokyo’s technology, security cameras, and police efforts, it was a comic book cafe (employee) that brought this fugitives 17-year-run to an end.
A comic book cafe.

Really?

If little else, this has served as a shining example to budding criminals in Japan: It is possible to evade police custody, no matter how serious your crime is.

And what is worse, is that reports show that the police were at first unwilling to even go and check out the comic book cafe after receiving the tip. They only did so after the tipster repeatedly and strongly persisted on the matter.

When the Japanese police have time to put innocent people in jail, harass people for turning in wallets, track and make “ground-breaking” arrests for cyber-crimes, and stand around in offices and kobans smoking and talking about who can piss the farthest, how is it possible that it took 17 years to catch one of Japans most wanted men?!

It brings to question how much effort was actually put into the search in the first place. And as many have already said, it wouldn’t be a shocking surprise to find out that the police were simply hoping for him to eventually turn himself in.
Seem unlikely? To most people it would. But this tried and tested Japanese police technique of ‘put the faith in the murderer and them turn themselves in‘ proved to produce results when one of the other Aum fugitives, Makoto Hirata turned himself in late at night on December 31st, 2011.

It would seem that it was this event that woke the Japanese police up enough to put appropriate priority back onto the case. Overnight, it became a media obsession. You couldn’t turn on a TV, or walk by a major transportation hub in Japan without seeing fresh posters featuring 17 year old photos of these fugitives being displayed. But despite the outdated photos, ripping off the band-aid seemed to have some effect. Within 5 months, Naoko Kikuchi was spotted by a woman who called police. This phone call lead to her arrest.

And with this arrest, the police went into high gear. Progress reports could be heard nightly on Japanese news. There was only one remaining suspect, and they were finally determined to catch him.
Or at the very least to have him handed over to them.

The police boasted their efforts as they poured money and manpower into search and surveillance. They found themselves hot on the trail again and again after finding footage of him on security cameras in the Tokyo area. They posted officers at every single major transportation hub, and worked themselves into a frenzy of excitement.

And in the end, for all of their efforts, an employee at a comic book cafe is the one who takes the glory.
I think I’ve heard this story somewhere before….

It took 17 years, one guilty conscience, overworked media outlets, and two good Samaritans, and finally Aum is behind bars.

And albeit an inarguable fact that the end result is incredible news, perhaps we should look at how we got here…

And maybe its time to ask , if this is the degree of seriousness and urgency that the Japanese police take the most severe crime in Japanese history with, what hope do we really have for… well… any injustice in this country?

Jun
11

Am I Invisible?

Am I invisible? – A seemingly reasonable question for people living in big cities like Tokyo.

As any foreigner in Japan will tell you within moments of setting foot in the country, you are far from being invisible in Japan. Even in a major metropolis like Tokyo which is full of international restaurants and claims to be aiming to be a larger part of the global market, foreigner (or gaijin as they are referred to by so many of the Japanese around) are still stared at on a daily basis.

We are stared at, even monit0red in so many everyday situations. Japanese people watch us as we walk down the street, or stare at us as we sit on a train. Our neighbors will monitor our every move to make sure that we are separating our garbage correctly and that we are putting it our on the right day in the correct spot. Even friends and family of friends watch us in awe and amazement as we masterfully display our capabilities in using the ancient device known as Chopsticks. And even Police will ask us to stop so they can check our bicycle registration or bags, just because.

Nearly every minute of every day (that we are around people at least), we are being watched, monitored, and even judged by the Japanese people around us.

So why is it that Japanese people seem to think that they are completely invisible?!?!
Not sure what I’m talking about?…

Even if you have been in Japan (especially a big city like Tokyo or Osaka) for a short time, I challenge you to think back to how many times you have seen the following things happen right out in public:

Nose Picking
(and I’m not talking about a quick clean and wipe but rather a full-on gold hunt)
For more on this, check out Japanese Gold Diggers.

Public sleeping
(everything from sleepy people on the train to drunk salary-men on the streets)
Check out – Sleepy Japanese People, Don’t Sleep on Me (>_<)

Blatant crotch scratching
Or even someone simply touching their crotch repeatedly for no reason

And if I had to dig into the deep and dirty, I could even go as far as sexual harassment on trains.
Most of these people really aren’t that subtle or secretive about it. Sometimes it’s so open and obvious, that its hard to believe that its happening right in front of your eyes. (For a more in-depth example of what I’m talking about check out my post about the 14-year-old pervert)

Most, if not all of these behaviors (and more that I haven’t listed) are visible all around us and are so blatant that with enough time in Japan, it’s easy to forget that these things are not normal. If you were to ask a Japanese person what they think about seeing someone pick their nose or scratch their magic area in public, you may be surprised to see them shrug it off with a laugh and a “well, that’s Japan“.

Now, while its fair to assume that in a very crowded area, people tend to feel more of a sense of anonymity and get the feeling that nobody is looking at them, this only really accounts for a few of these actions….
But what about the 19-year-old Yankii standing and talking to 5 of his friends while he gives his **** a good scratch-a-roo?!?!

Years ago while hanging out with a group of street-racers here in Tokyo, there was a guy who it didn’t matter where he was, who he was talking to, or what he was doing, he just seemed to feel the need to give himself a good old rub. At first I kind of assumed he was itchy (that would have been the logical conclusion anyway) but over time it became more and more apparent that he just really liked touching himself…
What really threw me for a loop is that nobody seemed to care or even notice (O.o)
And while this is a somewhat extreme and even rare example, I find myself wishing that I could say he was the only person I ever saw do this…

I will tag in here, that Japan is not entirely unique in this sense. I would be hard pressed to try and claim that you wouldn’t see similar things in any other city in the world. In fact, if you were to go to NYC, I am sure you would see a range of actions that would blow you mind, but this is not the U.S.A Rants, it’s The Japan Rants!

And so I put the question that every Japanese person in Tokyo should be asking, flat on the table:

Am I invisible?

 

 

Jun
02

Blowfish and the Samurai

I am a big fan of Japanese fugu (ふぐ – blowfish).

And while this wonderful fish goes by many names including fugu, blowfish, pufferfish, or even inflate-a-fish, chances are you will never hear anyone call it a safe snack~

Fugu, or blowfish as many call it in English, has always had my attention. Speaking more accurately, the fugu chefs have always had my attention!

Fugu has been enjoyed in Japan for over 20oo years, but contains a poison so dangerous that consumption of the fish was banned from the beginning of the 1600′s to the middle of the 1800′s. Even after the original ban was lifted, many areas of Japan still banned eating blowfish until the early 1900′s.
In 1958, a law was put into place which permitted only specially licensed chefs to prepare the potentially deadly swimmer for consumption and to this day, fugu is the only food that the emperor of Japan is not permitted to eat.

And getting a license to prepare fugu is not an easy task. The would-be fugu chefs must go through a very heavy 2-3 year apprenticeship and training, during the first part of which, they are not even permitted to touch the fish. Their lives revolve around anything and everything fugu. They are submitted to countless hours of study, followed by an inflexible and in-depth testing system which includes everything from a series of written tests to a practical fugu-preparation test where finally, they have to prepare and even eat the fugu. This test is so hard, that the pass-rate sits at a mere 35%.

Sound like a lot of work just to be able to cut and serve a fish? It is. And with good reason.

Let’s take a moment to imagine would it would be like if you were to ingest some of the blowfish’s poison…

Well, chances are that it would all start within 10 to 15 seconds. It would come on in a gradual build with something as simple as your tongue and mouth going numb. But this could quickly spread to your arms, legs, or worse. As the poison starts to spread, breathing becomes increasingly difficult as the toxin shuts down the muscles in your body. As you sit there grasping for any air that you can get, you realize that you are completely aware of everything that is happening to you. The poison hasn’t clouded your mind or made you delirious… and it won’t. This particular poison will leave your mind in a clear state from start to finish.
Your head is pounding, you can’t breathe, and you are additionally being tortured by the feeling that you want to throw up, but as most of the muscles in your body have been shut down at this point, you cannot.
You are rushed to the hospital. But there is no antidote for the fugu’s poison known as tetrodotoxin.
At this point, barely alive and just as barely conscious (if at all), your stomach is pumped and then quickly filled with activated charcoal in hopes of binding the poison. Finally you are put on life support, and your loved ones sit by and hope for the best…

Needless to say, this is not a pleasant experience for anyone involved.

While some people will tell you that fugu-related issues are very uncommon and that it is not something that you should be overly worried about, stories of people getting sick or even dying from eating fugu are far from uncommon here in Japan (although, thankfully have been on the decline).
In fact, I remember a story on the news back in 2007 or 2008 about a sushi chef who thought he might prepare some blowfish for his friends out of his home (without a license). This story did not end well…

And if you were to search the internet or news sites, stories about people being rushed to the hospital or dying after eating poison blowfish are surprisingly easy to find.

Here is an example:
11 people rushed to the hospital with blowfish poisoning

Simply put, blowfish can be a dangerous meal, especially if not prepared properly. And it is for exactly this reason that I have so much respect for these hard working chefs who have invested so much of their lives to the perfection of preparing this fish.

Knowing all this, would you trust an unlicensed chef to serve you blowfish?
The Japanese government would!

It would seem that the Japanese government does not share my overwhelming respect and admiration for these well-trained, and devoted fugu chefs. Rather, the government looks at prefectures and cities outside of Tokyo which have much more relaxed laws regarding blowfish, seeing less incidents, and cheaper prices, and decides, “Let’s try that in Tokyo!”. (Because I’m sure this has nothing to do with areas and cities outside of Tokyo having considerably lower populations, and less of a ‘fine dining’ culture…)

So, the Japanese government has decided that from October of 2012, a license will no longer be required in Tokyo to cut and serve the poisonous fugu. And for what? Hopes of blowfish becoming a cheap and popular izakaya-style snack that anyone can enjoy…

Now, let’s assume for a second that the Japanese government knows what they are doing here…
(because if history and recent events have taught us anything, it’s that the Japanese government is sure to make the right decisions for the good of the people! Right?…)
Even in the best-case scenario, imagining the government succeeds in lowering the prices, decreasing the number of incidents in Tokyo, and making blowfish a more easily enjoyable food for everyone, this is still a big ol’  middle finger to the many chefs who devoted their lives to the art of poetically navigating the gauntlet of the poisonous organs that make up the blowfish in order to present their trusting customers with a delicacy that they can eat in comfort.

And while I am confident that a great deal of fugu enthusiasts will remain faithful to their well-trained and highly respected chefs, how many new chefs are likely to go through the expensive, time (and life) consuming training and testing process to get a license that they don’t need? Would you go through the process of getting a car license if you didn’t need to?

And so Japan is killing yet another one of it’s beautiful arts by taking a food that was once seen as a special delicacy prepared only by highly-trained masters, and turning it into a cheap evening beer snack at the local snack bar or izakaya.

And people wonder why Japanese culture no longer has the appeal and pull on the world that it once did?

Just like the samurai, it would seem that these licensed fugu chefs who gave so much of themselves, are destined to become little more than legends. Stories of men that once were.

 

Through changing this one simple law, Japan loses yet another point of fascination for Japanese and non-Japanese alike.

Good job Japan.

–

For more about this change, please check out Reuters or FT

For an interesting 2 part story on fugu, please check outDeep End Dining

 

May
13

Sleepy Japanese People – Dont Sleep on Me

The Japanese sleep everywhere. It’s actually quite amazing and it was something I didn’t expect when I first came to Japan.

If I were to ask you what Japan is famous for, what would you say?

If you ask most people outside of Japan this question, you will most likely get answers like samurai, ninja, geisha, sumo, hello kitty, etc… If you ask people living in the country, someone is bound to bring up the incredible and undeniable ability that Japanese people have to sleep anywhere and in any position.

Japanese people seem to have no qualms with sleeping in public, and with even the most minimal amount of research, one can pull up countless blogs, articles, youtube videos and more….

In fact just for good measure, here is a list of a few of my favorite posts:

LoneleePlanet.com

http://www.loneleeplanet.com/2010/01/publicly-sleeping-salarymen/

A great post that not only features some very interesting photos,
but also breaks them down into interestingly named categories!

Kirainet.com
http://www.kirainet.com/english/japanese-sleeping/
An interesting post with some really good shots of J-Sleepers

JapanTalk.com
http://www.japan-talk.com/jt/new/how-to-sleep-in-japan
A great set of photos with an opener that would almost encourage giving it a try~

OneInchPunch.net
http://www.oneinchpunch.net/2007/09/08/sleeping-japanese-people-in-public/
Another decent photo post of Japanese people sleeping in public
*Spoiler Alert* – Last pic is not for the weak-of-stomach…

All of these illustrate the point pretty well. And I have quite the collection of my own photos that I may get around to adding to this post in the near future.
As you can see, Japanese people have managed to do what they have done with so many other simple daily tasks and actions and get the whole sleeping in public skill down to an incomparable art form. We can try to mimic it, but we will never do it quite as well, or in such impressive numbers.

So a fair question to be asking at this point is, ‘if you’re so for Japanese people passing out in public, then where’s the problem?’
The problem lies in that while I may get a hoot out of seeing Japanese people passed out on the streets, trains, toilets, temples, and whatever other locations they choose for their one-man slumber parties, I have no patience for that ever so infamous moment when the person sitting beside me on the train passes out and figures it a good idea to utilize me as their pillow…

Simply put, I do not like when people fall asleep on me on the train.

Most Japanese people will tell you there are 3 common ways of reacting to this situation.
People either:
a) Act as if nothing is happening at all (or even accommodate the sleeper in some way)
b) Get uncomfortable and discreetly try and either get away, or move the sleeper
c) Move or wake-up the sleeper with little-to-no hesitation

I would safely fall under category (c).
Now don’t get me wrong… It’s not that I don’t appreciate the warm sentiment or that I hate human contact, but rather that I find it unbelievably rude and inconsiderate. I am shocked that in a country where it is custom that while riding a train, you speak in a quiet voice, and never use your cellphone, that people find it A-OK to just pass out on the people around them.

Actually, there was an exact moment that triggered this post.
It was a short while ago, and I was on the morning train with one of my Japanese co-workers. We had been on the train for about 10 minutes when the girl beside me started to lean my way. She was a young girl, probably in her mid-20′s. She had the big hair, the fake eyelashes, the platform heels, and that smell that usually only comes from someone who has been out all-night and is making an early-morning return to their 1-room apartment after.
As she started to slowly lean my way, I knew I was in an undesirable position…

In any normal situation, I would have just nudged her and woken her up. Or maybe even changed seats. But this day was different.
I had a Japanese co-worker with me, and if you have read my post about working with Japanese people, you can understand that the last thing I wanted was to lose face.
And so… I let her sleep.

But at what cost? Really… What could the danger be… right?
Well, it turns out that the danger was that this wonderful young lady, was kind enough to share some of her make-up. With my suit.

But it’s ok right? Because I managed to save face with this Japanese co-worker.
Or at least that’s how I tried to view it.
Until we got to work and the rest of the Japanese staff spent the day staring at the make-up stain…
Did anyone say anything to me about it? – No.
Did my morning comrade have the decency to explain about it? – No.
So I’m pretty sure we can all guess what they were thinking….

All of this undue stress combined with the cleaning bill for my jacket, and you have to wonder,

How has this become a social norm in a country where people typically go out of their way to avoid bothering others?!

You have to stop and wonder at some point whether or not it is all really an accident.

I watched to strangers fall asleep on each other just the other night, and as the train ride went on, they seemed to be getting more and more comfortable with each other. It was a Tuesday night, it was fairly early, and neither one of them seemed to be intoxicated…
The girl fell asleep first. Her head slowly fell to the guys shoulder. And then, magically the guy started to fall asleep as well. Within seconds, her head was on his shoulder, and his head was resting on hers.
They stayed like this for a good 20 minutes or more, and the longer they stayed in that position, the more suspicious the whole thing became…

If you think about it. Even when people do fall asleep on the train, they usually wake up (or at least half wake up) at each station. Right?

So how is it that neither one of these 2 woke up even once in the span of over 10 stations…?

When I first released this post, there was a lot of comments by people who said that they didn’t mind as long as the person who fell asleep on them in the train was both, of the opposite gender, and attractive. So I talked to a few of my friends and co-workers and found that a large majority of people here in Japan feel this way.

“it’s not crazy to imagine that some people might actually enjoy the physical contact. Even if it IS from a stranger“, Said one of my co-workers.

But in the end, it’s still not for me. So Dear Japan, please don’t sleep on me.

 

Apr
02

Why I Avoid Helping People in Tokyo

I was always raised to believe that we should help our fellow man. If someone is struggling, we should assist. If someone is in trouble, we should help. If someone drops something, we should pick it up for them.
But after years in Tokyo I have learned that this is not the case.

Speaking more accurately, it would be safe to say that this is not the case if you want to live a normal and happy life. Time and time again I have been through experiences that have proven to me that helping other people in Tokyo is more trouble than it’s worth. I have seen countless examples of this in a wide variety of situations ranging from being detained for three and a half hours after trying to help a woman who was suddenly grabbed by a guy on the train (while other ‘Japanese’ who helped were released within minutes), to having the better part of my afternoon eaten away because I decided to turn in a wallet I found on the ground.

And that’s where we will start this post. A seemingly harmless wallet. Sitting on the ground. I see it. I stop. I think. And then I make a terrible decision… I think to myself “whoa… a wallet. That’s pretty important… I better turn that in!“. (stupid, Stupid, Stupid).

It was a Sunday morning around 11 am. I’ll never forget that because I was on my way out to meet some friends that I hadn’t seen in years and we were going to have lunch together at noon. I was on my way to the station when I found a simple black wallet laying on the ground. With the koban (police box) being only about 100-200 meters away, I thought I would quickly drop it off before I hopped on the train. So I picked it up, and swung into the koban.

The initial reaction of the police was to greet me with a smile and to clear off the table where they keep the map, probably assuming that I was there to ask directions .  Anyone who has spent a long enough time in Tokyo, will tell you that the police are always much more friendly if they think you’re a tourist (For more tips on how to deal with Japanese police, please subscribe and wait for my post Japanese Police).

But the moment that I presented the wallet and began to explain (in Japanese) that it was found on the ground roughly 200 meters from here, things changed. For the most part, the majority of the officers were seemingly fine with the situation, however 2 of them stood staring at me as if I had just committed murder.

One of the nicer officers pulled out a form and asked me to take a seat. He had me fill out the form with my name, number, address, and details about where the wallet was found. All of this was simple enough, but part way through, one of the less-than-happy-to-see-me officers came up and picked up the paper. He took a good long look at my name and asked me to present my foreign registration card. As I went to hand it to him he quickly and aggressively snatched/swiped it out of my hand, bent it back and forth, checked the hologram, and then proceeded to call in a check on me.

Needless to say I was shocked. But since I knew nothing bad was going to turn up, I sat back and waited.
And while I waited he went into the back. He still had the lost-item-form that I had filled out, and was looking through a shelf of binders. Finally he pulled one out, and pulled it down. He then asked me if the address I had written down was my real address. I told him it was, and he replied with “Then…. if that’s the case, please point out your house to me on this map”. I did this with ease, and he proceeded to drop the binder on the table in front of me and flip through the pages. Finally he stopped at one that seemed somehow familiar.

“Is this your house?”. he asked.
“Yea”, I responded.
“Then which one of these rooms is yours? hmm?”, he said with a bit of a sarcastic tone.
“My room number is on the damn registration card. Figure it out for yourself.”, I replied with just as much attitude as he gave me (in retrospect, probably not one of my better ideas, and there’s a good chance I made things more difficult for myself by doing so)
“So you don’t know? You can’t point it out?”, he snapped back at me. Clearly frustrated with the attitude I had fed him.
“It’s this one, ok.”, I said pointing to my room.

He spent the next 5 or so minutes filling out some form from that binder, while looking at my alien registration card. After which he spent the next 10 minutes on the phone with the binder, the paper, and my card in front of him. Needless to say, I was getting pretty stressed out.

I had already been in this koban for about 20 minutes now, and I was pretty sure I was going to be late.

Finally, he came out from his desk in the back, and dropped a form that had a series of empty boxes and a pad of black ink in front of me.

“One by one, put your fingers in the ink, and then mark your fingerprint in the corresponding box”, he said as if I had just been arrested or something.
“Is this necessary? Do I really have to do this?!”, I responded as I got more and more irritated by the situation.
“Are you trying to hide something?”, he shot back in an antagonizing manner.
“Whatever, this is BS”, I mumbled as I started to mark my finger prints on the page.

At this point I was about as upset as I could be, and to make matters worse, he didn’t even bring me a tissue to wipe my hands with.
Finally, I asked him to get me a tissue, and he laughed with a “hmmphh” and walked away…
After 2 minutes of wondering if he was coming back, he came back and dropped a single tissue onto my lap.

“I need to confirm that you don’t have any dangerous items on you. Would you empty your pockets and allow me to pat you down?”, he asked in a tone that made it clear that I didn’t really have a choice.
“Yea yea, whatever. Just hurry up”, I said trying to stop my hand from clenching into a fist with frustration.

I emptied my pockets, and even let him empty out my wallet onto the table (which he later mad me clean up).

“You don’t have your passport on you?”, he asked as he patted me down.
“Do you? Who carries their passport with them 24/7!?”, I spit out without a thought.
“What type of visa are you on?”, he asked. Now looking me right in the eyes.
I told him my visa type and pointed out once again, that such information can be found on my alien registration card which he still held in his hand.
“But you don’t have your passport on you?”, again he wasn’t even looking at me.
“Are you kidding me?! Like seriously. Is this how you treat everyone who turns in lost property?!”, I practically yelled at him.
“So then where is your passport?”, he asked completely ignoring my explosion.
“Hmmm… I wonder where it could be. Maybe… Home. Where the hell else would I leave it!?”
“Ok. Well, you claim to live around here, so why don’t we go get it.” he said back to me.
“Why the hell do you need my passport anyway?”
“Because I need to see your visa stamp and verify that you are here legally”,  he said with a bit of a grin on his face.
“Listen, I need to go. I am already late for meeting someone”
“I need your passport. So let’s go” he said, gesturing towards the door as he exited the koban.

I figured that sitting here arguing with him wasn’t getting me anywhere, so I decided to get up and walk with him to my place. Another officer accompanied us, and as I walked down the street, I couldn’t help but wonder to myself what my neighbors would think if they saw me being escorted by 2 uniformed officers.

We finally arrived at my house, and they followed me right into the building. In fact if it wasn’t for a slightly similar incident several months before, they would have managed to step right into my room. But this time I knew that they didn’t have the legal right to enter my actual room and managed to hold them at bay with the fact that I knew that.
I stepped into my room and closed the door behind me, and yet our fine officer had the nerve to open it right back up.

“Close the f***ing door! I’m not cooling the whole building!”, I snapped at him from inside. Hoping that he wouldn’t notice that I didn’t even have the cooler on right now.

It’s not that I had anything to hide, but rather I just couldn’t bring myself to a point where I didn’t want to piss him off at least a little.

I quickly emerged from my room with my passport, and before I could even present it to him, he reached down and snatched it out of my hand.
We made our way back to the koban, and he kept my passport in his hand the entire time.
When we got back, he asked me to take a seat, and he went into the back, sat down, opened up my passport, and picked up the phone.

For the better part of an hour I sat. He spent 5 minutes on the phone, 40+ minutes talking to the other officers and looking through binders, and then another 2 minutes or so on the phone.
Finally he came out and literally tossed my passport and foreign registration card onto the table in front of me and then pulled up my lost-item-form.

“What was in the wallet when you found it?”, he asked as he stared right at me.
“I don’t really know. I only looked briefly to check if it was discarded or dropped”, I said calmly.
“So you didn’t take anything from it?”, he asked, absolutely flooring me with the directness of his question.
“You checked my pockets right?!? You even went through my wallet. Does it look like I took anything?! SERIOUSLY, What the hell is wrong with you?!”, I practically yelled.
“hmmph. haha. relax relax”, he said with a condescending laugh. He was obviously pleased that he had gotten the better of me.

After about another 10 minutes or so of confirming my story of where and how I found the wallet, he finally told me that I was free to go in a tone that would imply that the whole thing was no big deal.

 

Now… For the sake of getting The Japan Rants up and running, I will stop this post here for now and add my personal thoughts and reflections at a later date. But Don’t let that stop you from tossing in your thoughts now~

 


Apr
02

The Little Pervert

It was that hour of the day where the sun is painting everything in the city a beautiful shade of orange as I boarded the train. All of the seats were taken, but the train wasn’t what I would call crowded.  I stood in the middle of the area where the doors were, and put in my headphones. I had just finished an interview with a fairly famous musician about an hour before, and was looking forward to getting home.
Standing 2 or 3 steps away from me to my right was a girl of about 23 in a short skirt and tall boots. Deadly combo. She had a sweet face, but I guessed she probably worked as a hostess somewhere. I shifted my focus off of her and onto the recording of my interview.

At the next station, a young boy of about 14 years old wearing a school uniform boarded the train.
And this… is where things started.

As the kid boarded the train, he stood behind her at a distance that couldn’t have been more than a few centimeters. This stood out. The train wasn’t all that crowded and he was in plain view of everyone. And everyone noticed. But this is Japan, which means that just as quickly as they noticed, they switched to pretending that they saw nothing.
You know what they say… Ignorance is bliss.
But the girl noticed and she took about 2 steps closer to the door. It would seem that she couldn’t maintain the same blissful state as the other passengers. And if this had been any normal day, or any normal 14 year old Japanese kid, the story might have stopped there.
But instead, the young guy waited about 10 seconds and reached up to grab the handle near the do0r. As he did this he ever-so-slyly moved himself back into position, almost pressed up against this girl.
Much to my surprise, she did nothing. For almost a full minute she remained exactly where she was with this little Japanese boy pressed up against her. But as we arrived at the next station, she took this as an opportunity to maneuver herself into the corner space created by the intersection of the doors and the seats.
As soon as the door closed, he moved in again. Just as sly as last time. But this time, pressed right up against her.

Now… From the moment this started, everyone on the train noticed. And yet nobody reacted. Nobody said a thing, and nobody did a thing.  In fact, I started to wonder if I was going crazy or completely misreading the situation. In fact the little f***er even had the balls to not only make, but hold eye contact with me several times in the reflection of the glass.  His face and eyes carrying an expression that would imply that nothing out of the ordinary was going on.
I was confused.
Was I really seeing this?! Should I say something?! Do something?!

And that’s when the situation changed a little. He started to bend his knees and actually rub up against her, and this was when I caught a glimpse of her face. It was no longer sweet, but instead she looked furious, and was pouring sweat.

Now, I have a standing promise with myself to not get involved in other peoples issues here in Japan. In Japan (especially in Tokyo) making an attempt to help someone out, can often turn around on you and make for a very long and stressful day. (See “Why I No Longer Help People in Tokyo“). But this was a little more than I was willing to take.

I lightly grabbed him by his back pack and only meant to pull him backwards, but when I noticed, I had partially lifted him off the ground to the point where his toes were barely touching. I thought to myself that I should stop, but for some reason I just didn’t care in that moment. There I stood in front of everybody holding this boy who now looked like a cat being held by the scruff of its neck, and I just couldn’t care less that they were all staring. I remember myself thinking “A girl is getting felt up on the train, and you all do nothing, but NOW you stare?!?“.

With him still in the air, I leaned forward and whispered in his ear. I gave him 2 options, neither one particularly attractive, but the later of the 2 at least allowed him to escape without any real damage being done.
He froze and said nothing. People were still staring and I was becoming increasingly more aware of my situation and the number of people watching me.
And then, he finally gave in (and I let go). He went with the second option (which was a very public-style apology). Right there in front of everyone in the train, he dropped down on his hands and knees and apologized to the girl (which in retrospect was not as good of an idea as I had originally hoped considering this only served to embarrass her further >_<). After his apology, he remained in his bow for what felt like an eternity (but in reality was probably less than 15 seconds)

As the doors opened at the next station, the young boy got off and disappeared at a speed that I can only describe as impressive considering his size.
He was gone, but I was still stuck on the train with this girl and all the witnesses. I really should have gotten off with him. Hindsight is always 20/20…

As the train finally arrived at its last stop the girl turned to me over her shoulder and took a moment to thank me. We are friends to this day, and it turns out that I was right about her job (^_-). (I still think her choice of outfit that day was… well… problematic to say the least. But that’s for another post).

At the end of this I was left feeling shocked, flabbergasted, and having a lot less faith in humans than I did when I left home that day (which is pretty bad considering that those numbers are already running pretty low…).
I found myself truly concerned with this country and what it’s coming to.
Honestly, what does it say when a kid of that age is already taking part in these type of activities?!

This incident was actually one of the main moments that inspired this website.
I wonder what that little 14 year old is doing now… On second thought, probably better not to think about it.

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