Tokyo, Japan

Tokyo's Hypno-Passengers


morning transport
A subway car makes its way to the first station on its route where it will soon become crowded.
sleep seat
Several executives sleep side by side in a Tokyo subway carriage.
Security
Metro lights up an advertisement for a security company starring a famous Japanese actor.
convenient backrest
A seat support provides providential protection for a passenger who cannot get up.
Friend shoulder
Executives sleep on either side of photographer Sara Wong during a subway ride in Tokyo.
bridge to another day
Train travels through the night, above the exhausting life of Tokyo.
Exhausted passenger
Passenger sleeps leaning on his workbook.
urban religiosity
Buddhist monk in traditional dress walks along a busy street in the Japanese capital, near a subway entrance.
metro-sleep
Passenger sleeps in a subway that has been parked for some time at the terminal station.
colorful morning
Passersby cross a bridge over the Harajuku train line in Tokyo.
easy sleep
Salaryman falls asleep on a short subway ride.
Subway in winter
Subway passengers await the arrival of a new train at a Tokyo station. Usually the arrival is announced with the message "mamona ku" (briefly).
of tracks
Passenger sleeps soundly in a subway train that has been stopped for a long time.
Provisions
A subway passenger passes through a corridor decorated with a billboard featuring a famous Japanese actor
double sleep
Executives sleep in tandem in a subway carriage.
Tokyo night
The shapes and tones of one of the largest megalopolises on the face of the Earth, with more than 13 million people.
Japan is served by millions of executives slaughtered with infernal work rates and sparse vacations. Every minute of respite on the way to work or home serves them for their inemuri, napping in public.

It's seven in the morning and Tokyo has been awake for some time.

Just like Kazuya Takeda, who hosts us for a few days and had left home more than half an hour ago, determined not to be late at the main Japanese branch of the multinational DHL.

We got off at Nishifunabashi subway station. We join the human flow that moves in coordination and at great speed towards the center of the city.

Like so many other railway lines, Tozai departs from the far outskirts of the city and transports many thousands of other faithful and punctual workers like Kazuya.

passersby on train, sleep, sleep, subway, train, Tokyo, Japan

Passersby cross a bridge over the Harajuku train line in Tokyo.

The Sleep Sanctuary of Metros and Nippon Trains

The compositions follow each other with intervals that don't reach half a minute. We got into one of the crowded carriages.

On board, the black of the suits of a small army of salarymen and women in matching business attire. Without quite knowing how, shortly thereafter, we detected two vacant seats in opposite seats. Although we are aware of its tightness, we remember that we are going to have another long day of exploration, mostly pedestrian, and we decided to take advantage of the benefit.

We installed ourselves almost face to face. We get to analyze the grim atmosphere in the cabin and the action at each of the stations we stop.

There are 40 minutes to go to Ginza, our final destination but not the metro. Some passengers take even longer trips. We are approaching the middle of the week.

Advertising, sleep, sleep, subway, train, Tokyo, Japan

Metro lights up an advertisement for a security company starring a famous Japanese actor.

Most of them already feel the fatigue caused by the successive early morning awakenings, by the endless commute to and from casa and, in so many cases, by the late hours of leaving jobs that they do not want or simply cannot resist.

Labor and Existential Torture of Japanese Salarymen

In the years of rebuilding the Japanese nation following World War II, a Japanese executive maintained a stable life, social status and enviable perks. But with the passing of decades and the strengthening of capitalist competitiveness, these advantages ceased to exist.

Many salarymen they have practically no prestige in the corporate hierarchy of companies. They are now working on endless journeys that prevent them from doing anything more in life than serving the departments they are part of.

There is even the famous notion about Japan that wage earners should follow their bosses even outside the professional sphere, in particular when Friday night comes and their superiors need company to go out, drink till they drop and decompress.

The Friendly Shoulders of Passengers on the Side

It is understandable, therefore, that, exhausted by the hardships of their working life, these servants simply let themselves rest on their way to jobs or casa and during the trip, two of them end up landing their heads on our shoulders.

Sleep friendly shoulder, sleep, sleep, subway, train, Tokyo, Japan

Executives sleep on either side of photographer Sara Wong during a subway ride in Tokyo.

Without expecting it, we took in a little of the fatigue of the Japanese nation, a task that amuses us and leaves other Japanese passengers entertained with their latest generation phones.

And yet the inemuri not only does it happen again and again among the Japanese, it is seen as a sign of social and labor diligence. On certain social occasions, even revered by agreed participants.

Despite all the technology employed, subway or train journeys from big niponic cities they can prove, in addition to being long, very uncomfortable.

Even more so when they are on board trains overflowing with people such as those passing through Shinjuku station, known for having the largest human traffic in the world and where dedicated employees have the mission of pushing people inside who get stuck and impede the doors. of closing carriages.

Subway advertising, sleep, sleep, subway, train, Tokyo, Japan

A subway passenger passes through a corridor decorated with a billboard featuring a famous Japanese actor

The Rest of Absolute Japanese Security

But Japanese transport, in the image of Japan in general, strives for absolute safety.

While all over the urbanized planet, sleepy passengers would have to worry, at the very least, about pickpockets, for the emperor's land, any forgotten possessions are left where they were left or, better yet, handed over to the authorities of the station.

This guarantee is, in itself, a rest. Combined with the more than apparent propensity of Asians to fall asleep when rocked by movement, fatigue and routine, the surprising amount of simultaneous naps we were witnessing is thus fully justified.

Executives sleep subway seat, sleep, sleep, subway, train, Tokyo, Japan

Several executives sleep side by side in a Tokyo subway carriage.

As expected, Japan is aware of this reality and is concerned about its incorrigible sleepers.

For some time now, certain inventors have been fighting for the best solution to make their lives easier. They created helmets similar to those of the works that can be attached to the glass of the windows of carriages with suction cups.

In addition to fixing the head, the author of this device also remembered to resolve the issue of early awakening and added a plate to the helmet to insert messages that alert passengers awake to wake the user at the station where they must leave.

Another competing inventor has developed a kind of folding tripod that, when opened, raises a padded chin support, eccentric but allegedly of great use for all passengers who want to fall asleep standing up.

Passenger sleep, sleep, sleep, subway, train, Tokyo, Japan

A seat support provides providential protection for a passenger who cannot get up.

However, both inventions lack the subtlety necessary for the Japanese to use them without embarrassment. For this reason, conventional forms of unsupported falling asleep on trains and the metro continue to prevail.

This is not the case in Ginza, but we also found countless people sleeping in terminal stations, in empty carriages, even as employees of the JR (Japan Railways) or the metro clean it.

Drivers themselves are used to the additional exercise of examining the trains through security cameras and having to wake up exhausted passengers.

Train passenger asleep

Passenger sleeps soundly in a subway train that has been stopped for a long time.

As we approach the station where we had planned to stay, the metro goes back to the pine cone and demands that we prepare the exit. We are forced to shake the sleepers who used us as pillows for their obvious physical and emotional discomfort.

Tokyo at night, sleep, sleep, subway, train, Tokyo, Japan

The shapes and tones of one of the largest megalopolises on the face of the Earth, with more than 13 million people.

At the end of yet another day of discovering Tokyo, we return to Kazuya's home and, after all, we remember to comment on that morning's comic event. Always pragmatic and easygoing, the host confesses without any embarrassment: “I know very well what they are talking about.

As you may have noticed, my schedules are also terrible. And, yes… I have to admit that I'm one of those. Fortunately, it's rare to miss the job season, but it's happened to me more than once that I end up at the terminal on the other side of town.

The worst thing in these cases is the delay with which I get to the office.”

Arrival subway carriage, sleep, sleep, subway, train, Tokyo, Japan

A subway car makes its way to the first station on its route where it will soon become crowded.

Tokyo, Japan

The Endless Night of the Rising Sun Capital

Say that Tokyo do not sleep is an understatement. In one of the largest and most sophisticated cities on the face of the Earth, twilight marks only the renewal of the frenetic daily life. And there are millions of souls that either find no place in the sun, or make more sense in the “dark” and obscure turns that follow.
Fianarantsoa-Manakara, Madagascar

On board the Malagasy TGV

We depart Fianarantsoa at 7a.m. It wasn't until 3am the following morning that we completed the 170km to Manakara. The natives call this almost secular train Train Great Vibrations. During the long journey, we felt, very strongly, those of the heart of Madagascar.
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Tokyo, Japan

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Bangkok, Thailand

One Thousand and One Lost Nights

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Tokyo, Japan

Japanese Style Passaport-Type Photography

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Tokyo, Japan

Tokyo's fashion

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Tokyo, Japan

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Tokyo, Japan

A Matchmaking Sanctuary

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Japan

The Beverage Machines Empire

There are more than 5 million ultra-tech light boxes spread across the country and many more exuberant cans and bottles of appealing drinks. The Japanese have long since stopped resisting them.
Tokyo, Japan

Disposable Purrs

Tokyo is the largest of the metropolises but, in its tiny apartments, there is no place for pets. Japanese entrepreneurs detected the gap and launched "catteries" in which the feline affections are paid by the hour.
Tokyo, Japan

The Emperor Without Empire

After the capitulation in World War II, Japan underwent a constitution that ended one of the longest empires in history. The Japanese emperor is, today, the only monarch to reign without empire.
Lion, Elephants, PN Hwange, Zimbabwe
Safari
PN Hwange, Zimbabwe

The Legacy of the Late Cecil Lion

On July 1, 2015, Walter Palmer, a dentist and trophy hunter from Minnesota killed Cecil, Zimbabwe's most famous lion. The slaughter generated a viral wave of outrage. As we saw in PN Hwange, nearly two years later, Cecil's descendants thrive.
Hikers on the Ice Lake Trail, Annapurna Circuit, Nepal
Annapurna (circuit)
Annapurna Circuit: 7th - Braga - Ice Lake, Nepal

Annapurna Circuit – The Painful Acclimatization of the Ice Lake

On the way up to the Ghyaru village, we had a first and unexpected show of how ecstatic the Annapurna Circuit can be tasted. Nine kilometers later, in Braga, due to the need to acclimatize, we climbed from 3.470m from Braga to 4.600m from Lake Kicho Tal. We only felt some expected tiredness and the increase in the wonder of the Annapurna Mountains.
Mother Armenia Statue, Yerevan, Armenia
Architecture & Design
Yerevan, Armenia

A Capital between East and West

Heiress of the Soviet civilization, aligned with the great Russia, Armenia allows itself to be seduced by the most democratic and sophisticated ways of Western Europe. In recent times, the two worlds have collided in the streets of your capital. From popular and political dispute, Yerevan will dictate the new course of the nation.
Bungee jumping, Queenstown, New Zealand
Adventure
Queenstown, New Zealand

Queenstown, the Queen of Extreme Sports

In the century. XVIII, the Kiwi government proclaimed a mining village on the South Island "fit for a queen".Today's extreme scenery and activities reinforce the majestic status of ever-challenging Queenstown.
Burning prayers, Ohitaki Festival, fushimi temple, kyoto, japan
Ceremonies and Festivities
Kyoto, Japan

A Combustible Faith

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fortress wall of Novgorod and the Orthodox Cathedral of Hagia Sophia, Russia.
Cities
Novgorod, Russia

Mother Russia's Viking Grandmother

For most of the past century, the USSR authorities have omitted part of the origins of the Russian people. But history leaves no room for doubt. Long before the rise and supremacy of the tsars and the soviets, the first Scandinavian settlers founded their mighty nation in Novgorod.
Obese resident of Tupola Tapaau, a small island in Western Samoa.
Meal
Tonga, Western Samoa, Polynesia

XXL Pacific

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Pitões das Junias, Montalegre, Portugal
Culture
Montalegre, Portugal

Through Alto do Barroso, Top of Trás-os-Montes

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Spectator, Melbourne Cricket Ground-Rules footbal, Melbourne, Australia
Sport
Melbourne, Australia

The Football the Australians Rule

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End of the day at the Teesta river dam lake in Gajoldoba, India
Traveling
Dooars India

At the Gates of the Himalayas

We arrived at the northern threshold of West Bengal. The subcontinent gives way to a vast alluvial plain filled with tea plantations, jungle, rivers that the monsoon overflows over endless rice fields and villages bursting at the seams. On the verge of the greatest of the mountain ranges and the mountainous kingdom of Bhutan, for obvious British colonial influence, India treats this stunning region by Dooars.
Unusual bathing
Ethnic

south of Belize

The Strange Life in the Black Caribbean Sun

On the way to Guatemala, we see how the proscribed existence of the Garifuna people, descendants of African slaves and Arawak Indians, contrasts with that of several much more airy bathing areas.

Got2Globe Photo Portfolio
Got2Globe Portfolio

life outside

Sigiriya capital fortress: homecoming
History
Sigiriya, Sri Lanka

The Capital Fortress of a Parricide King

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Network launch, Ouvéa Island-Lealdade Islands, New Caledonia
Islands
Ouvéa, New Caledonia

Between Loyalty and Freedom

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coast, fjord, Seydisfjordur, Iceland
Winter White
Seydisfjordur, Iceland

From the Art of Fishing to the Fishing of Art

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Baie d'Oro, Île des Pins, New Caledonia
Literature
Île-des-Pins, New Caledonia

The Island that Leaned against Paradise

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Rancho Salto Yanigua, Dominican Republic, mining stones
Nature
Montana Redonda and Rancho Salto Yanigua, Dominican Republic

From Montaña Redonda to Rancho Salto Yanigua

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Sheki, Autumn in the Caucasus, Azerbaijan, Autumn Homes
Autumn
Sheki, Azerbaijan

autumn in the caucasus

Lost among the snowy mountains that separate Europe from Asia, Sheki is one of Azerbaijan's most iconic towns. Its largely silky history includes periods of great harshness. When we visited it, autumn pastels added color to a peculiar post-Soviet and Muslim life.
Rhinoceros, PN Kaziranga, Assam, India
Natural Parks
PN Kaziranga, India

The Indian Monoceros Stronghold

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Dusk in Itzamna Park, Izamal, Mexico
UNESCO World Heritage
Izamal, Mexico

The Holy, Yellow and Beautiful Mexican City

Until the arrival of the Spanish conquerors, Izamal was a center of worship for the supreme Mayan god Itzamná and Kinich Kakmó, the one of the sun. Gradually, the invaders razed the various pyramids of the natives. In its place, they built a large Franciscan convent and a prolific colonial houses, with the same solar tone in which the now Catholic city shines.
View from the top of Mount Vaea and the tomb, Vailima village, Robert Louis Stevenson, Upolu, Samoa
Characters
Upolu, Samoa

Stevenson's Treasure Island

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Princess Yasawa Cruise, Maldives
Beaches
Maldives

Cruise the Maldives, among Islands and Atolls

Brought from Fiji to sail in the Maldives, Princess Yasawa has adapted well to new seas. As a rule, a day or two of itinerary is enough for the genuineness and delight of life on board to surface.
Rostov Veliky Kremlin, Russia
Religion
Rostov Veliky, Russia

Under the Domes of the Russian Soul

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End of the World Train, Tierra del Fuego, Argentina
On Rails
Ushuaia, Argentina

Last Station: End of the World

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cozy Vegas
Society
Las Vegas, USA

World Capital of Weddings vs Sin City

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Ditching, Alaska Fashion Life, Talkeetna
Daily life
Talkeetna, Alaska

Talkeetna's Alaska-Style Life

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Fluvial coming and going
Wildlife
Iriomote, Japan

The Small Tropical Japanese Amazon of Iriomote

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Full Dog Mushing
Scenic Flights
Seward, Alaska

The Alaskan Dog Mushing Summer

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