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sineface
Joined: 27 Feb 2006
Location: C'est magnifique
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 Posted: Wed Mar 26, 2008 12:52 am Post subject: Manners police on subway |
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http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7312672.stm
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Manners police hit Japan metro
Metro trains are one of the prime spots for bad behaviour in Japan
Badly behaved commuters riding on Yokohama's public transport will soon be risking a dressing-down.
Newly appointed "etiquette police" will be asking travellers to turn down their headphones and give up their seats for their elders and betters.
The move comes amid growing concern that etiquette is losing its hallowed place in Japanese society.
A recent poll found nearly nine out of 10 respondents felt standards of public behaviour had declined.
This perceived lapse included failing to offer your seat to pregnant and elderly people, chatting loudly on mobile phones, applying make-up in public, and listening to music on "leaky" headphones.
A prime hang-out for violators was identified as Japan's jammed commuter trains.
Japanese businessmen bow while exchanging namecards
Ways of showing respect have become rituals in Japan
So transport authorities in Yokohama - a port city south of Tokyo - have appointed a team of manners enforcers, the Smile-Manner Squadron, to try to curb some of the bad behaviour.
The team is mostly made up of over-60s, well acquainted with the standards of conduct associated with the "old Japan".
But many of these enforcers will be accompanied by younger bodyguards, should their etiquette advice - diplomatically given, of course - not prove welcome.
The team members, who will be identifiable by their bright green uniforms, will have no legal powers to insist that their advice is accepted by recalcitrant passengers.
But backers of the scheme hope their refined social skills mean they will be able to charm - or shame - culprits into reforming their ways.
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Awesome. I mean it.
Tricky though. |
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CentralCali
Joined: 17 May 2007
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| Posted: Wed Mar 26, 2008 1:30 am Post subject: |
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| I don't mind giving up my seat for my elders, but the second that copper tells me to move for "my betters," he can forget it. |
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cdninkorea
Joined: 27 Jan 2006
Location: Seoul
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| Posted: Wed Mar 26, 2008 2:18 am Post subject: |
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| CentralCali wrote: |
| I don't mind giving up my seat for my elders, but the second that copper tells me to move for "my betters," he can forget it. |
I give up my seat for people who have trouble standing, but any ajumma that can run for an empty seat like an olympic sprinter and shove everyone out of the way like an NFL linebacker is strong enough to stand. |
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Dome Vans
Guest
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| Posted: Wed Mar 26, 2008 2:23 am Post subject: |
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A couple of years ago didn't they have a worse thing going on in New York? You'd get a fine for putting your bag on a vacant seat or a fine for putting your feet on the seats.
Giving up your seat for an elder is something you should all the time. Good Karma!
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| I don't mind giving up my seat for my elders, but the second that copper tells me to move for "my betters," he can forget it. |
Best job here, pretend to be asleep.....or dead! Works with most people who'd hassle you on the train or bus. |
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oskinny1
Joined: 10 Nov 2006
Location: Right behind you!
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| Posted: Wed Mar 26, 2008 2:46 am Post subject: |
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| I am the only one who seems to offer my seat to old people here in Japan (at least from what I have seen). They have a look of shock when I offer it too them, then bow profusely and spend the entire trip staring at me smiling. There is a reserved section for the old, pregnant and wounded, like in Korea, but no one pays any attention to it. |
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Frankly Mr Shankly
Joined: 13 Feb 2008
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| Posted: Wed Mar 26, 2008 2:48 am Post subject: |
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| Trouble is that Korea already has a self-appointed version of this whose biggest concern is the speaking of languages other than Korean on public transport. |
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ciccone_youth
Joined: 03 Mar 2008
Location: Japan
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| Posted: Wed Mar 26, 2008 4:49 am Post subject: |
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| cdninkorea wrote: |
| CentralCali wrote: |
| I don't mind giving up my seat for my elders, but the second that copper tells me to move for "my betters," he can forget it. |
I give up my seat for people who have trouble standing, but any ajumma that can run for an empty seat like an olympic sprinter and shove everyone out of the way like an NFL linebacker is strong enough to stand. |
funniest quote i've heard all day!! ^^^
LOL  |
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Carlyles Ghost
Joined: 04 Jul 2007
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| Posted: Wed Mar 26, 2008 8:25 pm Post subject: |
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I applaud the Japanese for doing this, espcially where "leaky" headphones are concerned. Blaring music was a terrible problem in Victoria (Canada). I remember quiet morning bus-rides shattred by some silly *beep* listening to music cranked up to 10 at 6:30 in the morning.
I have approached these people a few times (always politely) and found that the request to turn the music down was greeted by "*beep* you" or "what's your problem?!" or "mind your own business!" I never understood how the person listening to the music could feel he had been wronged by the request to turn down the music. |
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cj1976
Joined: 26 Oct 2005
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| Posted: Wed Mar 26, 2008 8:45 pm Post subject: |
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| This is down to common courtesy. Old folks, the disabled and pregnant women all deserve a seat. Middle-aged people on their way to a strenuous mountain hike, or drunken ajosshis can forget it. |
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Ilsanman
Joined: 15 Aug 2003
Location: Bucheon, Korea
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| Posted: Thu Mar 27, 2008 12:41 am Post subject: |
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This proposal is dumb.
So they have no real power to enforce anything, right? So they bring old men to shame them, and if that doesn't work, they bring young people to bully them physically.
Either make it a law or don't. None of this halfass shit.
This seems like a strikingly Korean idea. But not Korean this time. |
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Are they the lemmings
Joined: 15 Feb 2007
Location: Not here anymore. JongnoGuru was the only thing that kept me here.
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| Posted: Thu Mar 27, 2008 1:25 am Post subject: |
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| Ilsanman wrote: |
This proposal is dumb.
So they have no real power to enforce anything, right? So they bring old men to shame them, and if that doesn't work, they bring young people to bully them physically.
Either make it a law or don't. None of this halfass shit.
This seems like a strikingly Korean idea. But not Korean this time. |
I've a feeling this will work. Embarrassment appears to be very effective as a deterrent here in Japan, and it seems that many people break the rules as long as they think no-one's watching or going to say anything about it.
No doubt, there will be times when the Smile-Manner Squadron* has no effect at all, but I'd wager that it works on the whole.
From what I've seen and sensed over my years in Japan, I get the impression that the thought of getting a talking to in front of others on a train might be enough of a deterrent.
*Doncha just love that cringe-worthy name? I'd gladly pay 2,000 yen to se a show by a band called the Smile-Manner Squadron. |
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Ilsanman
Joined: 15 Aug 2003
Location: Bucheon, Korea
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| Posted: Thu Mar 27, 2008 6:08 am Post subject: |
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So in theory, someone could scold the 'manner police' in front of other people for walking around and harrassing people who are just trying to relax after a hard day of work.
If embarrassment is that powerful, it should work. In theory.
| Are they the lemmings wrote: |
| Ilsanman wrote: |
This proposal is dumb.
So they have no real power to enforce anything, right? So they bring old men to shame them, and if that doesn't work, they bring young people to bully them physically.
Either make it a law or don't. None of this halfass shit.
This seems like a strikingly Korean idea. But not Korean this time. |
I've a feeling this will work. Embarrassment appears to be very effective as a deterrent here in Japan, and it seems that many people break the rules as long as they think no-one's watching or going to say anything about it.
No doubt, there will be times when the Smile-Manner Squadron* has no effect at all, but I'd wager that it works on the whole.
From what I've seen and sensed over my years in Japan, I get the impression that the thought of getting a talking to in front of others on a train might be enough of a deterrent.
*Doncha just love that cringe-worthy name? I'd gladly pay 2,000 yen to se a show by a band called the Smile-Manner Squadron. |
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