Japan; fashion, shopping and trains.

Last night we needed to go out to Shinkuku to do a bit of shopping. Careful planning of the sort which can only be the work of experienced Tokyo travellers (when confidence has exceeded wisdom) saw us venture out in the evening rush hour. The crush of peak travelling time in Tokyo is world famous but it is not until you are in it that you can feel its impact!

The Japanese are a very private people in general and within the densest population figures in humanity, the people of Tokyo have a deep respect for private space. Home is not a castle but your own slice of paradise and Japanese manners, the means by which culture has evolved a survival strategy for those closely packed, are practised in all corners of society except in the carriage of a rush hour tube train.

In these shiny carriages everyone is squashed together, bashed about and thrown around with more physical connectivity than you would find in a Roman orgy. I found myself in extremely close physical union with a young woman last night and whilst for a man of my age such an event would normally be a joy of the soul it proved actually deeply embarrassing.

The more so because no matter how I tried I was pinned so tightly that I could not find a way to disengage our connection. In fact any attempt to act in a chivalrous manner was in great danger as being interpreted as an action of a completely different intention. The young lady in question maintained her gaze towards the floor in patient acceptance of the situation. I believe I just went as red as a beetroot in a blush of deep embarrassment which marked me out visibly as a stranger to this process.

This situation which precipitates the collapse of normal personal space also engenders behaviour modification. Once the train doors open and the crush of humanity gets a chance to breath in once again, all those waiting patiently and politely on the platform then begin to aggressively push their way into the carriage. If you don't push yourself into the carriage you are going nowhere!

Once you actually make it into the frame of the doorway then you have to make sure that you are fully inside lest the doors snaffle you as they try to close. What happens next is the surprise. You know the carriage is full way beyond capacity but unfortunately the other 50 people on the platform queue fervently believe that they can squeeze themselves in.

Suddenly there is a great surge and from the door frame you find yourself pressed into the middle of the carriage in seconds as those on the platform quite literally form a rugby still scrum and push everyone deeper into the compacted morass of commuters.

Various strategies for survival are then adopted. In the image above you can just see my own view of a man watching network television on his mobile:- yes, this is Japan and in Japan, in the depths of the subway, you can get all of the main television channels on your mobile (one of the great things about leaving England and coming to Japan is enjoying life in the 21st Century rather than struggling in the 19th).

 Another strategy is to find a corner and simply go to sleep until your stop arrives.
I do not think it is possible to find another community on the planet which are so able to sleep at the drop of a hat. Many of the commuters, morning and night, sleep their journey out. Yes, I am aware that a few people in the UK do the same but nothing like the numbers or positions on the Tokyo subway network.

Amazingly, though people do get off of the train, with a titanic struggle, more people appear to get on at every stop. As it becomes ever more packed each movement and roll of the train is reflected in surges amongst the passengers. The sway can be extreme and several times I am sure that my feet were literally off of the ground for a few seconds as I was lifted aloft on the crest of this transport tide.

  

Eventually we made it to Shinjuku and were swept out of the carriage in a major disembarkation. Not only a popular destination in itself, Shinjuku is a major transport hub with 20 platforms of trains coming and going all into this one space. The crowd here is a phenomena in its own right but at all times the Japanese quality of patience is observed as people make their way to another train or out into the city night air.

Shinjuku station is a consumer hub like every other station in Japan. This is not in the way that our stations are, exploitative pricing, cheap shoddy wares and precious few facilities, no, Japanese stations make every possible use of space to satisfy the Japanese person's third religion; shopping.

In this religion there are no greater practitioners than young ladies who voraciously hunt out fashion. In predatory packs these girls inundate stores and shops looking for new things to buy. Clothes are top of the list but everything else from mobile phones to purses are fair game in this ruthless hunt.

As you can see in this image, the shopping facilities at Shinjuku station knock our weak offerings into a cocked hat. This is just one of the retail alleys, there are four, which sit below the platforms. The essence of this consumer management is profit as always but here the railway company owns the building, rents out the consumer space and this all impacts on the same balance sheet which includes under income "fares paid".

Not only can I use my Pasmo Card (Japanese Oyster Cad) to travel all around Tokyo but I can use it on the wider train system. Last year I completed a journey equivalent of London to Birmingham all under my Pasmo card. As an aside, as that particular train from the provinces came into Tokyo it entered the Tokyo subway system and finished its journey as a subway train! As I currently understand it, we are busy trying to build a west coast high speed line (which will cost four times more than the tax payer is currently being told) and if we manage that we will have a train system equivalent to what Japan has had for the last thirty years! We are so far behind it is shocking to see. Anyway, off the soapbox and back to the shops!

The shops are busy hives of activity but the queen bees are the shop girls. These are the young ladies who dress in the clothes of the store and sell, sell, sell to the hungry shoppers. These are professional girls, these are customer service experts and when it comes to fashion sales they know their market and how to relieve a consumer of the burden of a heavy purse.

From each shop front they cry out the wares and bargains available. When the customers enter they serve them with a bustle of activity and smiles. They are helpful, bright and filled with enthusiasm for the sound of the cash register going off like a fire alarm. I had the feeling that if I got too close to a doorway I could end up coming away with a rather fetching mini skirt or a bra. Maybe not obvious purchases for a man in his fifties but I am confident the sales girls would find a good reason for me to buy!