I took a day off and went down to Tokyo yesterday to catch up with a friend over some beer and hot sake. On the train, I wasn’t surprised to see several people around me doing what Japanese always do on trains: fall deeply asleep the moment we leave the station. Look around any train car and you’ll be sure to see at least a couple of these amazing train sleepers, snoozing away while somehow managing to remain (mostly) upright. When they arrive at their station, they magically wake up through a mechanism I haven’t figured out yet, and exit the train. To me the ability to sleep soundly in a public place like that is the ultimate expression of trust in one’s society, and since Japan is a very safe place, people usually have no problem with dozing off while they wait to get wherever they’re going. I believe it’s analogous to children sleeping in the back seat of a car while your parents drive somewhere driving you somewhere.
Sometimes it can be nice to sit next to a Japanese train sleeper, if she’s cute.
