It’s that time in Tokyo again for you to get your monthly Metro Manners (poster)…
The actual Tokyo Metro’s “manner” posters, which the 3Yen has featured since May 2008, seem to have lost their creativity. The Metro seems to be recycling their ideas and art. For example, the poster for February 2009 is much the same as this February’s poster in 2010.
Never fear, the 3Yen has no trouble with creativity and we’ll continue to supply you with crappy-but-original parody posters such as our previous lame attempts:
—Solution for those pesky handicapped passengers
—Beachin’ Tokyo trains
–‘Please refrain from snotty…’
— The official start of the Japanese Vomiting Season
–Don’t read newspapers
And many, many, more….
Tōkyō Metro manner posters aim to curb disruptive behavior
http://sankei.jp.msn.com/life/lifest…0756000-n2.htm
November 22nd, 2009
Have you seen salarymen and young men and women eating onigiri, bentō, hamburgers, and other foods inside trains and buses? It’s a sign of the decline of food-related manners among the adult population. While much depends on the common sense and consideration of the individual, we may have reached the point where society at large must say no to disruptive behavior.
Soup and coffee
Early October inside a private railway train running through the suburbs of Tōkyō. Three female university students, dressed in sportswear bearing the name of their school, were laughing and talking as they ate hot soup. An elderly man who couldn’t stand the sight any longer shouted, “Where are you manners?” The university students, however, continued to eat without batting an eye.
Another day in the early afternoon, I spotted a salaryman on the subway train with his mobile phone in one hand, picking away at a convenience store bentō box with the other. Office ladies eating onigiri while standing on the train, a male office worker drinking hot coffee on a rocking bus… All are scenes inside trains and buses from the past six months. This behavior can only mean the decline of the general adult’s food manners.
Railway and bus companies operating inside Tōkyō have yet to prohibit food and drink. Instead, the current situation places everything in the hands of the individual and his or her good sense.
JR East sells bentō boxes and alcoholic beverages at shops inside stations and inside green cars of regular trains. As a result, JR East is less motivated to do anything about the issue. “If we ban eating onigiri, sandwiches, and bentō boxes, we’ll have to give up ekiben (special bentō sold only at stations and in trains) as well,” says the railway. “It’s difficult to know where to draw the line for food and drink. We leave it up to the morals of our passengers,” adds a spokesperson from the Tōkyō Metropolitan Bureau of Transportation.
In the midst of all this, Tōkyō Metro’s “Please Do it at Home” series of posters intended to spread good manners among the riding public is gaining particular attention. The railway takes complaints from its passengers and transforms them into simple cartoons, changing them every month. The aim is to casually inform passengers committing disruptive acts and encourage behavior appropriate for a public environment.
The posters have been placed inside stations starting in April 2008, and after receiving compliments from users on the easy-to-understand messages, the railway has continued the project this fiscal year. Recently, the railway has received requests to use the posters as teaching material in schools.
Until food and drink are prohibited…
The poster for October is a cartoon of a young man slurping instant noodles and getting broth everywhere. Tōkyō Metro says it selected the theme after hearing complaints from users about the odors coming from passengers who eat food inside the trains.
The poster, however, says, “Regarding eating and drinking on the train, please be considerate of those around you,” but does not clearly state that food and drink are prohibited. “Manners aren’t forced on people. We are careful not to use expressions that make it seem like we are telling people what they can and cannot do,” says Tōkyō Metro, exemplifying the current situation where railways must rely on passengers’ morals.
Yoshida Toshikazu, a professor of educational psychology at the Graduate School of Education and Human Development at Nagoya University who is an expert on the factors behind antisocial behavior, remarks, “Since society tolerates this disruptive behavior, people mistake silence for acceptance. I suspect that more and more people are imitating the behavior thinking it’s acceptable.” Yoshida also points out, “Households must teach children of appropriate public behavior from a young age.”
Number one antisocial behavior: Sitting improperly
“Sitting improperly” tops the list of antisocial behaviors. Last fiscal year, the Association of Japanese Private Railways (HQ: Chiyoda Ward, Tōkyō) conducted a survey of approximately 800 men and women regarding manners in stations and inside trains. The most disruptive behavior according to respondents was sitting improperly (15.6 percent), marking the fifth straight year at the top of the list.
By time period, “loud earphones” (19.1 percent) was tops during the morning rush hour, while “boarding while drunk” (35.8 percent) was tops during the late evening period. For weekends and holidays, “Making noise inside the train” (21 percent) was highest, showing the unique variations between time periods and days.
This entry reminds me of when I was a kid growing up in Kentucky. My grandpa used to say “When life give you lemons, make lemonade”. But he was a hopeless drunk who never made much sense so I never paid much attention to him. Have a greatday!