Koborebanashi

Trivia, Tidbits and Tales about Japan

Tag: japan

  • 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!

  • The Year Through a Rice Field: February

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    Once or twice a week, I have to walk past quite a large rice field. As the year progresses, it’s always fascinating to see how the seasons change, as reflected in the rice field.

    Right now, the field is bare. It’s just brown earth with a few dead stalks, presumably from last year’s rice plants, mixed into the soil. Now we’re in February, though, it won’t be too long before the farmers start to flood their fields and then plant their rice seedlings.

    Thinking about it, rice planting must be- or, at least, have been- a back-breaking job. Nowadays it’s done mainly by a little planting machine on which the farmer rides. (By the way, the machines are apparently incredibly expensive, especially given that realistically, they’re used once a year.) But I’d say that even now, in the corners of fields and places where the planting machine can’t get to, the job is still back-breaking because the farmer has to plant every single rice plant by hand, individually. You can see why more and more people are retiring from rice cultivation, and why fewer and fewer young people are choosing it as a job.

    It’s a real shame, really. And maybe it’s a bit of a chicken and egg situation, but it’s noticeable how much the rice fields- in this area, at least- have declined in number over the past few decades.

    Saijo, where I live, is famous for sake. In fact, it’s one of the three largest sake-producing regions in Japan. It’s always said that it’s partly because of the water, partly because of the climate, and partly because of the rice. But it really is quite noticeable, and in a way quite amazing, how much the rice fields have declined in number. You have to wonder how much longer rice farming will be a viable thing in these parts, and that begs the question, will there come a time when Higashihiroshima City is no longer renowned for its sake?