Morning Trains...

morning train to school:

This I was running late when I woke up in the morning. I'm usually pretty good about getting up and down for breakfast, even if I don't have a morning class that day, but on Monday I slept in.

After running frantically down the stairs and out the door, I was soon shuffling from my dorm to the station. This walk usually takes 15 minutes, and I pass a whole bunch of residential buildings, a small grocery store called Maruetsu, the answer to all my chocolate cravings, and many a hair salon. The walk is usually a nice way to wake up, the city streets are so alive at 8 in the morning, you can't help but emerge from sleep when walking over a bridge covering streams which have little turtles in them! its great. Plus you have to dodge all of the cyclists, so if you were half asleep you run the risk of getting plowed over.

Speaking of getting plowed over, the station at 8 in the morning is a world unto itself, complete with its own "every man for himself" mentality and set of rules. Businessmen, students, kids, women on their way to work, everyone catches this morning train. The stations are absolutely packed.

Today I realized that there are actually people hired by the JR called "pushers". These men do exactly as their name suggests. When the train is packed to the rims, the pushers shove people back and push more people on. Once those people are on, the pusher does it again, pushing people in so the doors can slide over their bodies and seal it up.

Everyone on the train is miserable in the morning. Its hot here, its humid here, most of everyone is wearing a suit and are physically sweating drops right next to your own face on account of them being so close. I could smell what people had for breakfast, coffee, tea, egg... you catch my drift. Its like all the disgusting aspects of people come out. Plus people can be assholes when they are just another business exec in a crowd.

Needless to say I made it to class on time. I usually just close my eyes and wait for the announcement "sugi wa Tamachi, Tamachi desu". Sweet relief. Now I somehow have to wiggle my way out of here...