The Queue-Jumper

Japan's transport system is, as I've already mentioned, very, very organised. On every platform are quaint white lines indicating the queue route that commuters follow as if it were the path of Buddha's pilgrimage (the chaos that ensues after the commuters get on the train is another matter).

On Friday, I witnessed what can happen when these strict rules of etiquette are broken...

I was waiting to get on the monorail, patiently standing between my white lines, when an eager beaver in his early 20's from the neighbouring lane decides to sneak onto the train via our doors. Cheeky bugger, thought I. The older man in front of me, however, thought a hell of a lot more than that. He stopped the queue-jumper quite forcefully and said something in Japanese that I didn't (want to) understand. It then sounded like they were laughing, so I thought maybe they knew each other.

I secured a seat on the train and next thing I knew the man was giving the queue-jumper an open-handed smackdown in the aisle. The queue-jumper didn't flinch, just carried on up the aisle and had the gall to sit at the end of the carriage. [It goes without saying that queue-jumpers who steal coveted seats are regarded in much the same way as lepers, unless they are middle-aged salary-men or obattalions.]

Five minutes passed and no sign of the older man. Suddenly he appeared from behind me and rushed down the aisle to stand over the queue-jumper and whack him several more times across his head. The queue-jumper simply sat there and continued to read his newspaper. The older man, seemingly bored by the mindless sport, sauntered off into the next carriage.

During the whole episode, no-one on the train acknowledged that anything was happening. It seems that whilst queue-jumping usually affords baffled stares, violence is sometimes ignored.