8am tragedy
something happened this morning.
someone jumped onto the tracks of the yamanote line and halted the entire line for an hour and a half (possibly longer since i entered the fray some time after the deed had been done). right in the middle of the morning rush hour.
i had left early to catch breakfast before heading to school, but found myself stuck in shibuya. the yamanote line is one of the busiest lines (if not the busiest line) in tokyo, and probably in the whole of japan. at rush hour, trains come almost every minute – all packed to the brim with all forms of humanity… one of whom decided to end it all this morning.
it is not unusal for trains to be delayed in tokyo because someone had jumped, but the delay is usually short ( i suppose they have had much experience dealing with these “little inconveniences”). but to have the yamanote line halted for hours at rush hour because of one man – that is a major catastrophe. you should have seen the mad crush dashing here and there, trying to take alternative routes to work (because, you know, this is japan and you might as well kill yourself if you are going to be late for an important business meeting). jr staff stood around bowing and apologizing profusely to a disturbed and angry crowd… oh really, you should have seen it. you wouldn’t have thought it was something as minor as a train delay.
i remember being rather horrified when i first arrived in tokyo and found out that people jumped with alarming frequency. but gradually, the alarm faded, and like all true tokyo-ians (or whatever you call them), i learnt to be annoyed and frustrated.
but today, i could not stop thinking about the person who had jumped. on the yamanote line. at rush hour. i wonder if he had planned it. what he had thought as he plunged. and i became horrified beyond words once again as i stood on that very same platform from which he had jumped, all these thoughts running through my mind.
hello tokyo, we meet again.
Filed under: japan, reflections | 3 Comments
Tags: suicide, tokyo, train delays, yamanote line
Tokyo is obviously, not very conducive to your maintaining a peaceful and zen like state of mind. Within day(s), morbid thoughts have started to cross your mind *gasp*. Am I going to start reading abt fascination with blood again? =)
i ain’t contemplating anything gory if that’s what u thinking… it was just a very sad thing to have happened and i kept thinking about the person who jumped… sigh…
That’s really sad. But what’s sadder is that everything will just go back to normal. Yet, paradoxically, isn’t that what keeps us going – it will get better?
Welcome not only to Tokyo, but to the world, babe. :)