Why does this remote Japanese train station stay open for just one passenger?

Japan is famous for many things: Extraordinary Trains; Aging population; Great service. But in case you missed it, here is a wonderful little story that includes all three of them.

About three years ago, the Hokkaido Railway Co. was set to close one station, Kami-Shirataki on Japan’s northern island – a common enough situation given that more than 20 railway lines on Hokkaido have shut down in the last few years due to its remote location, the ending of freight trains to certain areas and the rapid decline in the region’s population.

However the company decided to keep this particular station open despite the fact that it was almost entirely unused.

Why?

The company learned that there remained a single student who still used the service for her travel to and from high school, namely the 7:04am train departing from the station and the 5:08pm train arriving at the station. The company even adjusted the timetable to fit in with the student’s school schedule and for years now the trains have stopped at the station just for her. But it will soon end. Not for any other reason than she graduates on 26 March 2016.

So in case you have ever wondered how far a Japanese train service would go for just one passenger, now you know.

Now that’s service.

Publisher: Daily - 10:05 PM

What does Mamonaku mean in Japanese?

In case you just want the short answer, it means 'shortly'.

But if you have ever travelled on any trains in Japan, or if you have ever stood on any platform in Tokyo, you will have heard the phrase ‘mamonaku’. Not just once, but many many times, regardless of your linguistic ability (in the Japanese language or otherwise).

Why is that? Because virtually every announcement (at least all the ones I heard) begin with the word mamonaku. In fact, often before you even hear or feel the train approaching, the little jingle comes on, followed ‘shortly’ by the seemingly ubiquitous word ‘mamonaku’.

So why am I telling you all of this? Well before I actually knew what it meant, or could understand any of the Japanese that followed it, I thought you would be interested to know that I used to play a little game of making up the translation:

Like the day that Mamonaku was the name of the train announcer and he continually said:

“Mamonaku, (pause) that’s my name, I’ll say it again, before the next train”

Or when Mamonaku was a product on sale:

(cue high pitch voice), “Mamonaku is now on special in every Konbini in Tokyo. Hop on the next train to buy yours”

But that game finished when I actually worked out what the word means – shortly (as I told you above). But to ensure that you actually learn something from this post, as opposed to just reading about the silly games I play while waiting for a train, linguistically, the Japanese word 'mamonaku' is quite simple, yet fascinating.

‘Ma’ and the kanji used, 間, means space or interval. ‘Mo’, も means too or also. While ‘naku’, なく is a form of ‘nai’ which means no, not, or nothing. Mamonaku therefore literally means no further space, or without space, or without delay. A more fluid translation and the one I prefer is shortly.

So rather than give up on my fun little game of making up the translation I just changed it slightly – I started making up what was said after 'mamonaku' (Please note, at this stage I still couldn't understand any of the Japanese that followed).

Like the day drinks were on the house:

Mamonaku, the vending machines will be giving out free hot coffee in a can.

Or the day Japan became weird:

Mamonaku, you will be greeted by ten bowing salarymen for no apparent reason, followed by eight Japanese maids a milking, and a partridge in a Sakura tree (it was around Christmas the time I made that one up)

Or when train platforms became the place to be:

Mamonaku, Arashi or Kat-tun (the Japanese equivalents of One Direction) will be arriving on the next train at Carriage 6, Door 3.

Or my favourite was combining them all into one big fun translation like the script of a movie:

(Gusty wind blows along train tunnel. Platform packed full of salary men and school girls all lined up quietly waiting for the train. Camera pans along platform)
Train announcer: (or “anaunsa”, アナウンサ ): Mamonaku, Kat-tun will be arriving on the next train at Carriage 6, Door 3 right next to the 8 vending machines that will be giving out free drinks for the three minutes they will be singing their latest hit single on the platform.
(Immediately 38 Japanese salarymen, begin pushing and fighting with 86 school girls, who are manically trying to make their way towards Carriage 6)

Unfortunately as with most things in real life, it is much more boring than that, and by far and away the most common thing said when a train is coming is "Mamonaku, densha ga kimasu", which it may or may not surprise you means, Shortly, the train is coming.

Mamonaku, this post will end.

Publisher: Daily - 9:28 PM

The highlights and lowlights of travelling in Japan

Do you remember your first trip to Japan?

I do, and I recently had the chance to read over some of my experience when I found an old email in which I had summarised the experience into highlights and lowlights.

While I have been back to Japan several times, staying for three months on one occasion (which you can read about here), I still have great fondness for my first trip, and get pangs of sentimentality ever time I think about it.

So to avoid boredom, cringing (on my part, and perhaps yours) and the Nobel Prize in Literature, please find my shortened version called "The Highlights and Lowlights of travelling in Japan".

Enjoy. (O tanoshimi kudasai)

Highlight: Drink vending machines - The variety, the taste, and the availability. They all worked, gave exact change and the correct drink, and punching and kicking them was just for fun, not to get a drink out. My favourites were Qoo (fruit salad milk), Pocari Sweat (sports drink), Miss Parlour (sugar water) and the 20 or so different varieties of iced coffee. 
Lowlight: the lack of public toilets - One juice, one coffee and one soft drink out of vending machine - 360 yen. New vending machine - 15,000 yen. Electricity to run vending machine for one year - 4,000 yen. Consuming three drinks and spending the next hour searching, the relief of finally finding a public toilet - Priceless

Highlight: Sumo wrestling - the sporting equivalent of cricket in Japan, in that a whole day of watching adds up to about 8 minutes and 43 seconds of actual wrestling. You can also listen to a guy commentating and hear about match records, styles of fighting, and averages between the bouts, which was useful and added to the entertainment, but didn't increase the actual time of wrestling. 
Lowlight: Kindly accepting an offer by the Japanese gentleman sitting next to me to have a look through his binoculars - if it’s one thing you don’t want to see close up it’s Japanese men weighing 300 pounds or more, in very small underpants (in terms of coverage) or very large g-strings (relative to my own).

Highlight: The efficiency of the transport system - The trains run on time, to the minute, if not the second. 
Lowlight: The efficiency of the transport system: - The number of people on the subway trains means there’s no point in holding on because you can’t move anyway. (And so many wandering hands - I’ve never felt so wanted, yet so used)

Highlight: The toilets and the surprise of sitting down on a prewarmed toilet seat and being given the option of buttons labelled wash, pre-wash, heavy pots and pans, warm, spray, dry, tickle and one I was never game to try, the “powerful deodoriser”. 
Lowlight: Sitting on one, and no matter what button or combination of buttons I pushed, the seat kept getting hotter and hotter. Perhaps I pushed the medium and well done buttons a few too many times? (the heavy pots and pans, and tickle buttons may not have actually existed)

Highlight: Japanese baths 
Lowlight: Having to share them.

Highlight: Japanese accommodation - clean, friendly and available (sounds a bit like a dating application), though the rooms were small - a big problem for someone who is tall, muscular and well built (which is why I was perfectly comfortable. 
Lowlight: Japanese floors are just as soft (or hard) as Australian floors - McDonalds, the English language and brown hair dye have all leaked into Japan, but apparently mattresses are being held by the Japanese immigration indefinitely. 
Lowerlight: One ryokan (Japanese inn) I stayed at in Kyoto, which had small rooms, a dirty shower, filthy bathroom and a mouldy kitchen, a smoky haze in every room, traffic outside and noisy British backpackers inside singing Wonderwall and Hey Jude until 2am.

What are your highlights or lowlights from travelling in Japan?

Publisher: Daily - 11:26 PM

Why do Japanese people sleep on trains?

Tokyo trains - clean, safe, efficient, and perfect for a nap according to your average Japanese commuter. And I’m not just talking about a little shut eye, or a bit of head nodding. I’m talking about deep sleep, in a matter of moments, and in epidemic proportions. If you travel on Japanese trains, whether the overland or underground, the public or private, the local or rapid service, the Metro, the JR or the Shinkansen, I can guarantee that you will see Japanese people asleep. 

But these intermittent periods of dormancy raises some very important questions about the Japanese– firstly in a society that prides itself on politeness, civility, restraint and resilience, why is snoozing on the subway socially acceptable? But also, and perhaps more intriguingly, why is the phenomenon so widespread? 

I am not Japanese, so I would never dream (pardon the pun) of falling asleep on the train in my own city (Sydney, Australia). I worry that if I fell asleep on my way into Town Hall, I would wake up either without my bag or wallet or shirt or tie, or alternatively I would wake up with my shoes tied together, or a ‘kick me’ note attached to a part of the body not normally associated with being kicked. More likely is just plain sleeping through my stop (FOMGO – the fear of missing getting out). 

But the Japanese do not have to deal with these trivialities, firstly because there is virtually no crime in Japan, even in Tokyo, and particularly on the trains – no matter how uncomfortably you go to sleep, you can do so knowing that when you wake up you will still have your belongings. Secondly, apart from completely organised and televised prank shows, I don’t think the Japanese are big into random pranks carried out on unwilling victims. As to the third issue, I have yet to work out how the Japanese seem to magically wake up at their desired stop, avoiding the problems of FOMGO altogether. 

But why is the practice so common? I have researched this issue for years now (by which I mean randomly looking around on the Internet for the last hour or so) and here are the top ten reasons I discovered (ranging from the most plausible to the least plausible explanations). 

1. It may sound crazy but the best and most sensible answer I read was that people in Tokyo are tired. This could be from the fast pace of work or school, or the inordinate amount of bowing they do, or even from all the effort it takes at making Tokyo the best city in the world, but generally Tokyoites are weary and worn out whenever they get on a train; 
2. Tokyo is such a large city, and commuting is so common, that it is not uncommon for people to commute up to 3 or 4 hours a day. Given the first reason, it seems obvious that at some point during that commute you might try to get forty winks. 
3. Land, houses and apartments close to the city cost so much that people are living further and further from the city so – See point 2; 
4. The trains are comfortable, namely heated in winter (perfect for sleeping) and cooled in summer (perfect for sleeping); 
5. People are not actually asleep but just don’t want to look at all the other people on the train; 
6. People feign sleep so as not to have to give up their seats; 
7. The repetitive sounds, speed or vibrations of the train can lull you into a slumber, just like a baby being rocked to sleep by their mothers; 
8. Traditional Japanese beds (futons) are so hard, that no one is sleeping at night so they have to make up for it by sleeping on the trains; 
9. The Japanese diet is high in carbohydrates which make falling to sleep quicker; 
10. The Japanese have longer intestines, which means their circulation takes longer. 

I really have no idea why it is so common but it does appear that the Japanese are currently tag teaming on and off the trains to ensure that there is at least one person asleep in every carriage (if not an entire row). 

What do you think? Have you ever fallen asleep on a train? Was it because of one of these reasons? Why do you think so many Japanese people sleep on the trains?

Publisher: Daily - 5:20 AM