Thursday 3 July 2014

O.A.P - A.O.K

Japan has the largest number of pensioners (in terms of percentage of population) anywhere in the world.  What's most impressive isn't their collective age, or the age for which most people live, but the fact they remain mobile and independent for so much of that time.

Today I came across a quartet walking down some platform stairs.  Walking in two pairs, they were blocking the only way onto the platform bar an escalator heading upwards (we were all heading down).  I met them as they were just beginning their descent, with a full two minutes before the train was scheduled to depart.  Unfortunately they took an extremely long time - so long that I said 'excuse me,' a couple of times (politely) to no acknowledgement.  After a minute we were roughly ten steps down which meant we were obviously not going to make the train, so I turned around and headed upstairs, passing a dozen or so people on the way up.

My intention was to run down the escalator.  Which I did.  As I got about halfway down most of Japan decided to head in the opposite direction.  As both sides of the moving escalator were now full, I gave up and went back to the top.

The conductor waited about fifteen seconds past the departure time (if you know of Japanese timekeeping and their trains, this is equivalent to holding a head of state in customs - it just isn't done) before it became obvious they weren't going to make it.  That was the last train departing from that platform for a while so the only option was to go back up and get to the next platform over.  Some time ago everyone else had realised what was happening and left, so I was once again behind them and I couldn't help but laugh.  It wasn't hearty, just a quiet chuckle; upon hearing this they all turned and started asking each other (while still standing on the stairs) why the foreigner was laughing.  Upon hearing this I laughed even harder and trudged back upstairs.

I watched as they passed the elevator and started walking down the other set of stairs.  Luckily they were substantially wider so despite their going in a line (instead of in pairs) they couldn't quite block it off.

There's no real point to this story - it just made me laugh.

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