People of All Smells of Life

The man sitting next to me is struggling with the wrapper of an ice-cream. He gives it more than a couple of twists and tries to pull it apart but it just won't give way. He then bites it with his teeth to tear it open (reminding me of National Geographic documentaries). Finally, the wrapper gives in - but not without retaliation as it angrily squirts some of its content at the perpetrator. But, bad aiming; a couple of us unfortunate ones nearby fall victim. The lady next to me gives the man a quick, irritated look but couldn't be more annoyed when she's totally ignored. The man acts as if nothing happened and triumphantly sucks on his ice-cream, which retorts with obscene slurps.

Such was the episode I encountered on the train this evening.

If you're a tourist visiting Japan and would like to have a general idea of the Japanese society, what's a better place to make your observations, than on a train? It is after all the most convenient means of transportation; you meet people from all walks of life in the train.

There are oddballs...

If you've been on a train in Japan, you'd have noticed that out of ten persons, three would be listening to their mp3 players, three probably fiddling with the cellphone, two taking a nap and two reading. But, meeting someone who reads aloud his novel, I suppose, is a rare case.

Nevertheless, I met one. A rotund guy in chequered shirt, reading aloud the lines in rising and falling tones as if he was practising for a stage act. In fact, he was so absorbed in it that he was totally oblivion of the stares from the other passengers...

There are pathetic drunkards... For some reasons, nomikai's seem to be a favourite Japanese past-time. Friday nights especially, are spent in izakaya. More often than not, they tend to drink more than they can handle, turn red and start spouting nonsense. There was this apparently drunk old man who shouted at strangers, probably to entertain himself. Sometimes, the air in the train is so saturated with alcoholic breath that you can tell that someone on board had too much beer. Sometimes, you see a guy sleeping in one corner in the train station, a hand still clutching to an empty beer can. I once saw a guy who refused to leave the train at the last stop when someone woke him up from his sleep. He mumbled something unintelligible and just went on sleeping...

Then, there are otaku's... Most of the time, they look just like you and me but sometimes, you can identify one, normally by their sense of fashion. But some people can smell one. A friend of mine - ironically a self-professed otaku - complains that otaku's smell bad. Something in between a rotten egg and vinegar. You can't be too careful, he said, especially when you're in Akihabara - the famed Otaku-land - where it stinks so badly that you have to pinch your nose and risk suffocation when you're walking through the crowd. Though he has the uncanny tendency of over-exaggerating even the most minute of things, I thank god that I'm not endowed with such a sensitive sense of smell. Still, I did have a bad experience sitting next to a guy who stunk to the high heavens. The poor guy must have had an unfortunate accident in the toilet...

So the next time you take a train, look around and you'll see people from all walks of life, or even of all smells of life - you can never get bored. Every time taking the train may be a new experience.