The Pain Train

Trains.

They get you around places you need to go and are often seen racing around christmas trees. They can also be found in the middle of the city where you live, occasionally causing you to have to wait five, ten or thirty-five minutes.

Bottom line is that Nippon is a train kinda country. They love trains. The kids play with toy trains the way young american children might play with matchbox cars or their parents guns.

I dont blame them one bit.

Japan is the home of the Shinkansen. The shinkansen is an extremely fast passenger train. Thats right, its freakin fast. Like Mario Andretti fast. The shinkansen could maybe reach speeds up to 200mph but some designs of the train relying on magnets have reached speeds up to 350mph.

BC Powder. Its just plain fast.

Japan is connected by a vast railway system which connects all regions within the islands and in some cases, connects areas of the four main islands together. In the inner cities, it is the preferred method of transit.

In a city like Tokyo or Osaka, busy commuters are often packed onto trains like the pit of an out of control Creed concert. There are specific workers for JR, Japan railways, whos job it is to squeeze more people into these trains and get them safely on their way for a good 16 hours of office labor at the end of their morning commute.

Bottom line is that the Japanese railway system is ultra efficient, ultra safe (usually) and ultra fun for someone looking for a good time.

There are signs in and around train stations warning the young women to look out for "chikan" or molestors on trains that take the opportunity during the busy rush hour crowds to cop a feel on a poor unsuspecting Japanese girl.

I wouldnt believe it but I witnessed it myself once on a Nagoya train. I started to shout "CHIKAN!!!", but being a big ugly american i think they may have thought i was talking about myself and was trying to shout and let everyone know i was looking for a good time.

Lets see if we cant find one somewhere on the trip and expose that sucker on the internet.

More havoc to come...