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When I was still in Switzerland I thought if I can not sit down in the train means it is pretty full. Or there were times in Zurich where I thought the train really is full. But I have learned that there was still a lot of space left! With a lot of space I mean that you can fit twice as many people in there, if not even more! That is what I can say after experiencing rush hour every morning in Tokyo. Rush hour here is between 7:30am and 9am.

Here a video to demonstrate how it is every morning. I didn’t take that video. But that kind of how i feel every morning. just that i don’t stay outside. I go inside too.

This is how it feels. You stand in this huge crowd of people who are all waiting for the train. You just think: “Are they really all gonna fit?” And yes. Most of the time they do. Or they try to fit everyone inside . To be honest, on my line it is worse than in this video – I take the Saikyō Line (埼京線). Here the people actually didn’t have to push that hard to get in. You probably think: “They hardly could get in there!” But really. There could fit 2-5 more people in there for sure! Just search for “Tokyo pushers” on youtube and you will see what I mean . Those pushers are no joke! They really stand there every morning! I see them every day!

And here some pictures I took this morning. From the outside and inside of the train.

Well. Saying that I was even able to get my camera out means that it was not that full. Normally it is so full that I can’t take my camera (Nexus One ) out.

Now you might wonder: “How do I get out of the train?”. Well there is only one way: Push! Hopefully you are not the only one getting out at the station. But if you are, just show them you need to get out. And some people will get out of the train to make space. Or at least so much space, that you can get yourself out somehow.

So you see that I do some fitness every morning!

My host father hates it when it is crowded this much. I understand him now. It is kind of hard and always requires an effort to get in and out and to be able to survive inside. So I once went with him in the morning. We took a train at 6:45 in the morning. I have to say it was a lot nicer . But too early for me to get to work. Office opens a little before 9am and it takes me 1 hour to get to work. So I found myself at the station of my work place at 7:30 in the morning. But I had my notebook with me and sat into a cafe and had my hot chocolate. Luckily there was an open wireless network that i could use. And opening the VPN tunnel to my school made me feel secure enough to surf around the internet .

So much to my experience with the rush hour in Tokyo Japan. If you have questions, feel free to ask in the comments (or directly).

Well then. Tokyo out.