Today I figured I would spout off on a few little minor annoyances with living and working in Tokyo.
Beware Decorative Marble!
The National government of Japan and the local Tokyo government are constantly warning the average citizen and tourist about various dangers. You hear and see these warnings everywhere you go. As an example, on the subway there are posted signs warning you of getting stuck between the doors when they close. Not that the door would crush you as they don’t close that quickly and they also automatically spring back when they encounter resistance. However, the Government still wants to make sure you’re aware of the danger (or lack thereof). My understanding of the warnings is that the Government truly wants to warn the citizens and not because they’re afraid of litigation. Their society is just not as litigious as the U.S. In most cases, I have no idea how you could possibly be injured by the particular threats the warning notices are conveying. I guess there are idiots in every country that can’t walk and chew nori at the same time. The warnings are not the annoyance however. It’s the lack of warning where there are real threats that are the annoyance. As an example, many office buildings like to decorate the outside plazas of their buildings with marble. But they don’t just put the marble in columns and walls; they actually put marble on the plazas and walkways. I’ve included two examples.
The first photo is taken right outside of my apartment and I’m highlighting the marble in red on both photos. The marble outside of my apartment is used to separate the sidewalk from the plaza area outside the office and apartment buildings. In the second photo, this is the walkway into the Shinagawa Post Office. I’ve highlighted two marbles slabs but you can see the marble goes all the way out to the sidewalk. So what’s so dangerous about the marble? Nothing on a nice sunny day but on a rainy day which is pretty much every day from mid-June through mid-July, these become sidewalks of death. The first time I stepped on a wet marble slab I nearly went flat on my back. The acrobatic maneuver I performed to stay on two feet was quite impressive but I probably did more damage tearing muscles and ligaments than if I had just taken the fall. I now realize that these slabs are probably meant for the amusement of locals.Enjoying the View?
The men’s room in my one office has floor to ceiling (about 12 feet high) windows. Although there are vertical blinds on the windows, they’re almost never closed so when you use the urinals you use them in full view of a major hotel and two office buildings. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not against public urination as long as the proper amount of alcohol has been applied to my system but there’s just something odd and annoying when you’re stone cold sober. The girls in the office building across the street don’t help when they hold up a score for each of the guys.
Musical Trains
I’ve yet to completely figure this one out. Sometimes when I take the subway from my Roppongi office back to Shinagawa apartment, the train will stop after a station or two and everyone must exit that train, cross the platform and board the next train on the opposite tracks. You do not want to be on these “Last Stop” trains. I’m assuming the trains are going into scheduled maintenance but it’s just frustrating because it typically happens during rush-hour. This happened to me last Wednesday night. When I got on the train in Roppongi, there were not as many people on-board as there usually is. That was my first clue that I might be on the “Last Stop”. Sure enough, as we approached the second stop, everyone began fidgeting and pushing their way towards the doors. Because once the doors open, there’s a mad dash across the platform to the other side. If you don’t get a spot in the front of the line, you might not be able to squeeze onto the first train and have to wait. That’s musical trains and it’s just as annoying and frustrating as the kids game.
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