The Latest Train Casualty

Early on in the blog I described the morning commute in Tokyo. Michael has coined the phrase ‘raisin train’ since the people riding the trains are like raisins in a box, touched and squished on all sides.

Here are a couple of pictures from the web of how crowded some trains can get. The platform workers serve many functions, like making sure people get off/on the trains safely, no one gets caught in the doors, baggage doesn’t get caught in the doors, no one falls off the platforms and onto the tracks, and shoving as many people onto the trains as possible.

I often take some fruit to work to eat as a snack in the afternoon. I learned early on that I must put the fruit in a plastic bag as some days the trains are really crowded and whatever is in my bag may be subjected to considerable pressure. In other words, some days my bag gets squished pretty hard and whatever is inside is at risk. On this particular day my banana took the fall, becoming the latest train casualty. I probably lose one banana ever other month, so it is not too bad.