Won't Miss #464 - fear of being trapped on trains

It's higher than it looks here. 

When you live in Tokyo, you spend a fair amount of your life on trains. This is what happens when you live in a place with a very convenient, efficient, and punctual public transport system and very expensive parking. After the March 11, 2011 earthquake, my feeling about stepping onto a train changed. The trains automatically stop when a strong quake happens. If you are stuck on one between stations when one hits, it could be hours before you get out. They can't exactly open the doors in the middle of nowhere and have you disembark because the train platforms are very high (4.5-5.5 ft.) and there's no way to get down when you're not at a station short of a special ladder. In California, you go up steps to get on the train. In Japan, not so much. I talked to some people who were trapped on trains for as long as three hours during the quake and the answer to "what happens if you have to go to the bathroom" (as there are none on standard trains and subways). The answer was a shoulder shrug.

After the big quake, I was always afraid of being trapped for hours on a train or subway after a big quake and ending up soiling myself and I won't miss that paranoia.

Will Miss #270 - trains crossing closeby

I rarely rode public transport back home because I grew up in a rural area. My main experience with it was riding the Cal Train to San Mateo once a week and riding the Boston subway on a few occasions. The Cal Train were lonely and infrequent, so the experience of trains whizzing by within what feels like inches of one another at high speed carries a particular sense of excitement.

There's something about all of that kinetic energy and seeing the faces of hundreds of people in a different vehicle pass by at close proximity which feels rather unreal, and I'll miss that.

Will Miss #256 - air conditioned waiting areas

An enclosed waiting space (left) with air conditioning on the Keio line train platform.

Our last sojourn to Costco occurred in the humidity of the rainy season in June. The trip takes about 5.5 hours round-trip and requires a fair amount of train riding and some transfers. My husband and I were gratified to find the enclosed waiting spaces on the platform were air conditioned. They offered very welcome relief from the oppressive heat and densely humid air. They're also good for people who find the winter chill too much for them in the colder months.

I'll miss these comfortable and convenient waiting areas that act as oases of luxurious comfort on (some of) the open train platforms.

Will Miss #143 - making up on trains

Japanese people will tell you that they don't like to see women putting their makeup on when they ride the trains and that it is bad manners. The thing is that it not only doesn't bother me, but I get a kick out of it for several reasons. First of all, there is a certain amount of risk undertaken when you put objects near your eyes on a moving train. Second, it requires some pretty spiffy dexterity to draw anything on your face while the train lurches and bounces. Finally, as "manners" issues go, this one isn't a problem for anyone as it doesn't smell bad, take up space, leave behind anything offensive, or trouble others in any way.

Essentially, women who put their makeup on on the train are just using the time to do something other than peck at their cell phones or read and write inane text messages, and I'll miss seeing them do their thing in the face of what I view as an overly sensitive unwritten rule about "manners."

Won't Miss #140 - gropers

Click the image above to load one which is readable.

During my early years in Japan, when I was still young enough to be of interest to random men, I was riding an escalator down into a basement store to meet my husband. A man walked down the escalator behind me and touched my ass. I assumed at first that he had accidentally bumped into me after walking a step too far so I moved forward, and then he moved forward again and touched my behind again. At the time I was naive about a widespread problem in Japan, groping, so I thought he was just impatient for me to walk ahead and was nudging me. Now, I'm certain that both times he was intentionally groping me (particularly since we were the only ones on the escalator and he could have walked around me). The problem has gotten more attention in recent years, but it continues to be of sufficient concern that there are separate cars on trains for women so that they can avoid being fondled by men who can't keep their hands to themselves.

I won't miss these creepy men who think women are objects for them to play with.