Rail rage
In the not-so-distant past, staff on Tokyo's myriad railway and subway lines would think nothing of waking a slumbering passenger with a friendly yet firm shake of the shoulder. Particularly prevalent in July and December - traditionally the bonus seasons at Japanese corporations - drunks could be relied on to be of the happy variety rather than the belligerent kind. Violence was almost unheard of.
That is, unfortunately, no longer the case, and railway firms have had to take urgent measures to protect their staff from passengers who are ready to throw a punch at the drop of a hat. The Association of Japanese Private Railways has drawn up a manual for employees of its 16 member railway companies on how to deal with truculent travellers. Some companies have even introduced security guards on platforms at the busiest stations in the metropolis.
The change has been dramatic in recent years. East Japan Railway reported 356 incidents of staff being abused or attacked in the last financial year - the most in the eight years that it has kept statistics. Other carriers report similar rises.
It is not only staff who have borne the brunt of rail rage in the capital. On a Yamanote line train a few months ago, I tried to stand between a 30-something businessman in a suit, and a youth wearing jeans and a T-shirt who had trodden on his toes. I got out of the way when the pair landed as many thumps on me as on each other. The rest of the carriage kept their noses in their magazines.
Such incidents would hardly raise an eyebrow in New York or London - but aren't Tokyoites meant to be the world's most considerate commuters? Not so, apparently. In April, in a case that really put the issue under the spotlight, a young employee stopped a passenger who had barged through the automatic ticket gate at Shibuya station without a ticket. The passenger responded with a stream of abuse, and spat at the employee.
Very obviously the public face of the company, the man could have been expected to follow the book and turn the other cheek. But this one had apparently been on the receiving end of one too many outbursts, and he punched the passenger. Hauled before his employers, the employee was required to resign - even though dozens of passengers witnessed the incident, and told the company that the passenger had been in the wrong.
In another incident, an official was escorting a man - accused of molesting a female passenger - to the station office, when he made a sudden bid to escape. In his haste, he knocked the employee down a flight of stairs, rendering him unconscious. Uniformed security guards now patrol some platforms, with strict rules of engagement for uncooperative or offensive patrons.
At least they aren't armed - yet.
