Modern Life is Rubbish.
April 11, 2008 11:53 AM   Subscribe

This post was deleted for the following reason: this thing has obnoxious ads all over it, popping up and popping new tabs even. ugh. -- mathowie



 


Is that Japan's ONLY train?
posted by joelf at 12:03 PM on April 11, 2008 [1 favorite]


My daily routine already includes window-filling banner ads, and I don't like it one bit, no sir.
posted by ardgedee at 12:08 PM on April 11, 2008 [2 favorites]


<more inside>
posted by Squid Voltaire at 12:09 PM on April 11, 2008 [6 favorites]


It could be worse.
posted by Mintyblonde at 12:09 PM on April 11, 2008


Nice, a giant obtrusive advertisement overlay shows up five seconds into the video and covers most of the window. I think that's more annoying than trying to pack onto a train.

I walk 500 feet to work each day, so these commuting nightmare scenarios are always amusing to me.
posted by mullingitover at 12:10 PM on April 11, 2008


Man, if the even ze Germans are scratching their heads modernity, I just don't know what.
posted by resurrexit at 12:11 PM on April 11, 2008


mullingitover... I walk 24 minutes and actually think I've got it the best. That said, it is spring.
posted by Phantast at 12:14 PM on April 11, 2008


Reloading the page makes the banner ad go away and restarts the video.
posted by Class Goat at 12:14 PM on April 11, 2008


I hope the guy at the back of the train doesn't have to exit at the very next stop.

So does anyone have an explanation why they don't just add more cars to the train? Or for that matter, run more trains? Hiring porters to shove people into overcrowded cars seems to be a weird solution to the problem.
posted by spoobnooble at 12:16 PM on April 11, 2008


AdBlock for the win!
posted by sciurus at 12:18 PM on April 11, 2008


Yeah right. You were touching my ass by "accident". Stop it, you perv. Yes, and you too.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 12:18 PM on April 11, 2008


now imagine that on a Western diet.
posted by kuujjuarapik at 12:19 PM on April 11, 2008 [4 favorites]


this morning I had some guy regularly shoving his elbow into my back because I kept my empty backpack on (when full, it's considered considerate to hold it down at the knees, rather than take up more space).
I allowed the first two deliberate shoves, then turned around in the crowded train (putting people off balance) and locked eyes with him. No more shoves!
I cannot imagine MTA hiring people to shove us onto the L train like that.
Regardless, I admire their efficiency. But wouldn't that process have to be redone at every subsequent stop (as the doors opened)?
posted by Busithoth at 12:21 PM on April 11, 2008


Mooooooo.
posted by ericb at 12:23 PM on April 11, 2008


Ooh is this a best/worst commute contest? I get tourist traffic, but also I get to see bebbeh whales play in the bay.
posted by annaramma at 12:24 PM on April 11, 2008


First off, this is from 1991. Second, here is a Google Video link of the video, with some commentary, and without all the stupid ads. Try harder next time?
posted by chunking express at 12:25 PM on April 11, 2008


Reloading the page makes the banner ad go away ...

So does closing the damn link.
posted by R. Mutt at 12:25 PM on April 11, 2008


I'm surprised the Japanese aren't using more sophisticated compression techniques. Although you probably wouldn't want a lossy technique for this.

I may never complain about how overcrowded the transit is in my city again.
posted by never used baby shoes at 12:26 PM on April 11, 2008 [2 favorites]


Yeah right. You were touching my ass by "accident". Stop it, you perv. Yes, and you too.

Boston's "T" Grope Patrol.

New York's Undercover Cops Get Molested on Subway.
posted by ericb at 12:28 PM on April 11, 2008


The "pushers" look like they are impromptu rolfing.
posted by RubberHen at 12:32 PM on April 11, 2008


This is the imagery I use to relieve occasional constipation, fyi.
posted by docpops at 12:36 PM on April 11, 2008


I'd heard a few years ago about this, but this is the first I've actually seen it happen. When I heard about it initially, the anecdote was that the train employees have large sheets of plywood with "pushing boards" attached perpendicularly, and several workers would cram people into the trains by shoving them in with these contraptions. Does anyone know if that has any basis in reality?
posted by chundo at 12:37 PM on April 11, 2008


And I wondered how people in Japan came up with the idea of Tentacle Porn.

I have rejected job offers that would have required to commute at peak hour, the job I have now has the most flexible schedule I've seen (the downside: it also means all nighters an calls on Sunday). One of my commutes involved getting on a bus halfway down its route, already full. On good days, I would be squeezed like the people in the video, on bad days, I would be hanging from the railing OUTSIDE the bus, with 4 or 5 other people, ducking cyclists, trees and other cars at 80 km/h.

Our local paper ran a front page "Death by Bus" counter. So yeah, modern life is rubbish. I the old times, we only had the Death by Minor Wounds Infected, Death by Drinking Dirty Water, Death by Being Eaten by Big Bad Predator. The counters were lower, of course, because the rabble did not really count.
posted by Dr. Curare at 12:38 PM on April 11, 2008


It's worse than you think. That's the train to the Soylent Green plant.
posted by sourwookie at 12:39 PM on April 11, 2008 [3 favorites]


Yeah, but did they ever return?
posted by grounded at 12:42 PM on April 11, 2008 [1 favorite]


Uh, I'll wait for the next train, thanks.
posted by Daddy-O at 12:42 PM on April 11, 2008


They'll never find the Phantom Gas Emitter on that train.
posted by Guy_Inamonkeysuit at 12:43 PM on April 11, 2008


Imagine being in the middle of that meat pile when your stop is next. Bwa.

One of the most surreal moments in my life: Taking a 15-hour flight to Narita, then an hour train ride to Tokyo Station, and arriving (jet-lagged, dazed) just in time for rush hour. Imagine looking up a huge staircase and seeing an endless tidal wave of Japanese men in dark suits and white shirts flowing toward you...and you're the only one going up...

That being said, they have some very nice private railways in Japan -- where you can ride old school (think old movies) in a private "room" with a table in the middle. A uniformed woman came along selling "snacks." What I thought was two-tone (perhaps port wine) cheese in a tube was actually "fish cheese." Vile. Where to spit?
posted by VicNebulous at 12:46 PM on April 11, 2008 [1 favorite]


I like the alternate electronic life of Pi. Y'know, the Universe side of the door.
posted by Mblue at 12:50 PM on April 11, 2008


When we went to Japan (with my 7-year-old daughter), we experienced rush hour at the busiest stops a few times and it's just like that.

As crazy as it looks, I find it a lot more civilized than the most crowded BART train in SF. People don't shove. They don't stand ground. They're no territory or aggression. And people seemed very body odor free. They just press against each other in the most docile way possible. My kid was freaked, but it wasn't that bad. It was nothing like an American crowd.

There are also woman-only cars as well for the fear of the rubbing if you're so inclined.
posted by Gucky at 12:50 PM on April 11, 2008


Needs more cowbell.
posted by notashroom at 1:02 PM on April 11, 2008


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