On the culture of "not seeing."
Feb. 5th, 2010 07:59 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sechan19I've often had cause to wonder if the Japanese ever do anything about the strange things that occassionally go on in public spaces (homelessness, illness, crazy behavior, etc.). Certainly, I had never seen anyone take overt action, but that is not uncommon in large metropolitan places where madness seems to be a daily occurance. Today, however, I had the opportunity to conduct a bit of social research, albeit unintentionally, on the subject.
Here's how it went down.
I was on my way to the Center, and - as I often do - I made a run for the platform (up a flight of stairs) to catch a train. However, due to the combination of relatively cold weather (body working hard to keep warm), sudden exertion (resulting in an added production of heat), and the entrance into the very warm train (time for the body to switch gears), something very predictable happened. I overheated. And then, as a consequence, I started to feel dizzy. (Note: the exact same thing happened last year under the exact same conditions. I really hate cold weather.)
I made it to my stop (which was, mercifully, only one station away), and I got off the train into the deliciously cold air. I tried to stay standing, so as not to alarm anyone, but I was very dizzy at that point, and when you're very dizzy you have to sit down. So I did.
About three minutes passed, and I noticed a pair of station agents coming towards me on the platform. No one else had paid any attention to my movements, as far as I could tell, but I wondered if the JR employees would ignore me as well.
They didn't.
In fact, as it turned out, I was the reason they had come.
"Are you alright?" one of them asked me, squatting down.
"I'm alright," I replied. "It's just that I suddenly felt dizzy."
"Well, why don't you come downstairs to rest where it's warm? It's very cold out here."
"Actually, I think that the cold air helps."
This threw him for a bit of a loop, and he paused a moment. (I tend to be much more contrary than the average Japanese person, and it often catches them offguard.) But he rallied with a different tack. "Well, it's just that you're worrying the other passengers by sitting here."
That, of course, put things in a completely different light. "Yes, you're right," I said. "Please excuse me."
"Can you walk?" he asked.
I said that I could, and we proceeded down to the station office. There, they provided me with a quiet room to sit in, turning off the heater out of deference to my request for cold, gave me a glass of tea, and offered to call an ambulance. I declined the ambulance, but sat for about ten minutes. Then I made my way to school, apologizing profusely for the inconvenience.
So, despite no one's speaking to me directly, several people informed the station staff of my difficulties. If you think about it logically, it's the smartest course of action to take (when a situation is not imminently dangerous, as mine was not) and what the authorities are always advising us to do. Tell someone with the authority and means to deal with it, and then go one about your business.
I love impromptu sociological research. And I love it even more when a fail turns into an epic win!
Here's how it went down.
I was on my way to the Center, and - as I often do - I made a run for the platform (up a flight of stairs) to catch a train. However, due to the combination of relatively cold weather (body working hard to keep warm), sudden exertion (resulting in an added production of heat), and the entrance into the very warm train (time for the body to switch gears), something very predictable happened. I overheated. And then, as a consequence, I started to feel dizzy. (Note: the exact same thing happened last year under the exact same conditions. I really hate cold weather.)
I made it to my stop (which was, mercifully, only one station away), and I got off the train into the deliciously cold air. I tried to stay standing, so as not to alarm anyone, but I was very dizzy at that point, and when you're very dizzy you have to sit down. So I did.
About three minutes passed, and I noticed a pair of station agents coming towards me on the platform. No one else had paid any attention to my movements, as far as I could tell, but I wondered if the JR employees would ignore me as well.
They didn't.
In fact, as it turned out, I was the reason they had come.
"Are you alright?" one of them asked me, squatting down.
"I'm alright," I replied. "It's just that I suddenly felt dizzy."
"Well, why don't you come downstairs to rest where it's warm? It's very cold out here."
"Actually, I think that the cold air helps."
This threw him for a bit of a loop, and he paused a moment. (I tend to be much more contrary than the average Japanese person, and it often catches them offguard.) But he rallied with a different tack. "Well, it's just that you're worrying the other passengers by sitting here."
That, of course, put things in a completely different light. "Yes, you're right," I said. "Please excuse me."
"Can you walk?" he asked.
I said that I could, and we proceeded down to the station office. There, they provided me with a quiet room to sit in, turning off the heater out of deference to my request for cold, gave me a glass of tea, and offered to call an ambulance. I declined the ambulance, but sat for about ten minutes. Then I made my way to school, apologizing profusely for the inconvenience.
So, despite no one's speaking to me directly, several people informed the station staff of my difficulties. If you think about it logically, it's the smartest course of action to take (when a situation is not imminently dangerous, as mine was not) and what the authorities are always advising us to do. Tell someone with the authority and means to deal with it, and then go one about your business.
I love impromptu sociological research. And I love it even more when a fail turns into an epic win!
