It's been a few weeks since I've written to you all because the newness is starting to wear off. The strangeness remains, however! Here are a few of my latest observations...

Vending machines - they're everywhere! In the train station it's the only way to get a ticket. It took me a while to figure out that I have to put my money in BEFORE I can tell the machine which ticket I want. I could also buy the cheapest ticket and put into a fare adjustment machine at the other end to pay the difference. If I've paid too little, the turnstile will stop me and send me back for an adjustment. (If I've paid too much, though, it won't send me back for a refund!)

Most vending machines sell soft drinks and cigarettes. Some sell alcohol - beer in various-sized cans, from the usual beer-can size up to an enormous jug for the whole group, and bottles of wine. I wonder how good the wine is if it comes out of a vending machine?! (Alcohol & cigarette machines don't work after 11pm, by the way. To stop the underage drinkers from going all night?) Some sell porn videos and, um, "accessories" for the lonely salaryman, as well as the infamous schoolgirls' panties. Inside the front windows of these machines is a sheet of reflective plastic (a bit like a thermal blanket) which renders the contents invisible during daylight hours. At night they're lit from within - maybe they light up with the streetlights. They are the only machines I've seen that have protective wire grilles behind the glass.

I've figured out the stripes on the sidewalk that I wrote about before. They are to LEAD visually impaired people. I went into a Nerima govt office that had the dots at the entrance, in front of the information window, and at the elevator, with the stripes running between these areas. Seeing them laid out like that made their purpose very clear: "You Are Here", "This Way, Please", etc.

People sleep a lot on the trains here. The seats run along the sides, and the nappers sway back and forth, frequently falling resting their head on their neighbour's shoulder when it's not hanging so far down over their chest that it looks like it'll fall off. Apparently they can also sleep standing up. I'm not surprised that they're so tired - most of them have an almost 2-hour commute each way, every day.

The trains are, as I may have mentioned, incredibly punctual. However, the Chuo line has a bit of a reputation for delays. For some reason, it is a popular (?) place for suicides. Maybe "notorious" is a better word. I read an article today that blames the great views of Mt Fuji as seen from the elevated parts of the line on clear days. Is it the contrast between the city and the beautiful mountain that pushes people over the edge?

Of course, suicides have increased greatly here over the past year as restructuring has become a fact of life. Men in their 40's-60's, especially, who thought they had a job forever can't take the uncertainty of not knowing whether they'll be next to be laid off. Bullying is a common tactic in getting rid of employees - bad assignments, pay cuts, etc, in an effort to get them to quit. It's hard for them to adjust. I read last week about a government office which is going to rent out empty cubicles to the unemployed so that they can network with each other. But the main reason seems to be to have a place to go during the daytime instead of hanging around the house, because these men have no clue about what to do at home with their families. And many don't want anyone to know they've lost their jobs, so this is a way to cover up the truth.

The pressure to succeed starts early here. I've seen 5- and 6-year-old kids dressed in their private school uniforms, carrying big square black leather backpacks full of books, going to/from school/home/cram school alone on the train. They look so wise and serious, and they know exactly where they're going.

Cram schools are extra tutoring schools that students almost HAVE to go to if they're going to succeed. I guess Nova is part of this too, in a way. Students come to improve their English beyond what their school and cram-school can teach them. Sometimes it's by choice, sometimes their parents are forcing them.

There are big exams at various stages of schooling. If you want to go to a private high school, you have to write an exam. If you go to one of these that is linked to a university, you can go straight there. Otherwise you must write a HUGE exam after high school to qualify for post-secondary education. It's all a bit overwhelming to consider. With all the layoffs and changes that Japanese society is going through, I wouldn't be surprised to see a big "dropping out" trend happening over the next few years. The youth here aren't very optimistic about their futures.

On that cheerful note...

Copyright Ailsa Wylie 1999