Koborebanashi

Trivia, Tidbits and Tales about Japan

Category: Q&A/Trivia

  • Question: What Do I Need To Know When Travelling By Local Train?

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    Trains are a great way to see the scenery of Japan, but they can quite often be busy and crowded, especially in urban areas. Bear in mind these guidelines to make travelling by train as stress-free as possible, both for you and your fellow passengers.

    Many of the guidelines for travelling by local train are the same as for travelling by Shinkansen, but there are a few differences. These are what you should be aware of:

    • Take as little luggage as possible, especially if your journey involves a change of trains. Especially especially if you only have a few minutes to change. If you have large suitcases, consider sending them by takkyubin.
    • On the train, put your luggage on the luggage rack or hold it on your lap. Don’t put it on the seats.
    • Try not to take a four-person berth with only two people or one person.
    • Don’t use the priority seats if there are other seats available. (The priority seats are normally at one end of the carriage, and they have notices prominently displayed.)
    • If you do sit in the priority seats and someone who needs them gets on the train, give up your seat to them.
    • Make sure you get ready to get off in plenty of time to be able to leave the train. Most services don’t stop for more than a few seconds really. If you start getting your luggage ready once the train arrives at the station, in all likelihood you won’t have time to get off.
    • If you’re sitting on a bench seat (one of the long ones along the side of the carriage), refrain as much as possible from eating or drinking.
    • This should go without saying, but don’t put your feet on the seats. This is especially frowned upon if you’re wearing shoes.
    • Don’t be too loud. It’s okay to speak while on the train, but try to do so in a low voice. Don’t be too raucous: ideally, the people in the seats behind you shouldn’t be able to hear enough of your conversation to be able to follow along.
    • Put your phone on silent mode while you’re on the train, and refrain from making or taking calls.
    • Don’t stand near the doors, or if you have no alternative, make sure you move to let people on or off at stations.

    Does this sound overly strict? Don’t worry: it’s basically just manners and common sense.

    Do you have any more guidelines to add? Please let me know in the comments!

  • Crackballs!

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    If you’ve ever been to a bank or a convenience store in Japan, you might have noticed, tucked away behind the counter but still easily accessible (to the staff, that is), some orange balls. If you look more carefully, you’ll see that they’re actually clear balls filled with some sort of orange liquid. Any idea what they might be?

    Well, let me tell you. They’re actually to protect against crimes. They’re called ‘bohan colour balls’ (crime prevention colour balls), but I prefer the alternative (and far more attention-grabbing) ‘crackball’. Whatever the name, the idea is that staff can throw the balls at any criminals who are trying to escape.

    Good idea, but it raises one question (actually, several): do the staff actually practice throwing these balls? How do they learn to aim? What if they hit a completely innocent bystander? The whole ‘orange ball’ system just seems very prone to mistakes, let’s put it that way.

    I certainly wouldn’t have any confidence that I would be able to hit anyone who’d just stolen something from my shop or, worse still, from my bank… but maybe that’s just me.

    Footnote: It appears that people possibly do practice throwing the balls. There’s even a website (unfortunately only in Japanese, but then again, why would it be in any other language?) explaining everything you could ever want to know (and quite possibly more) about how to use the balls.