30 April, 2015

The Struggle is Real

“WHOOSH.” Another train flies past. The crowd around me begins growing restless as the minutes tick by. I look up at the large clock hanging on the wall. Just as the second hand ticks by the 12, I hear the distant rumbling sound of an oncoming train. The gigantic crowd around me seemed to hear it too, and people begin to push and shove their way forward. One skinny college student with dyed blonde hair elbows me in the stomach as she forces her way through the dense sea of people. A tall business man carrying a dark briefcase almost knocks me over as he worked his way to the front. Just as I’m regaining my balance, a fat lady hits me with her over sized handbag as she shoulders her way past me, causing me to almost fall flat on my face yet again.
“SCREEEEECH.” Finally the train squeaks to a stop in front of us. As soon as the doors start opening, everyone begins doing whatever they can to get closer to the doors. I’m forcefully shoved again and again a countless number of times. After what seems like hours of being jostled about in the horde of people, I manage to reach the doors. Just when I’m about to get on, the doors begin to close, but luckily some workers quickly help push me onto the overcrowded train.

On the train, I begin to feel extremely claustrophobic. One old lady has on way too much perfume, and I overwhelmed by the stench of it. Another lady’s long hair keeps getting in my face, causing my nose to itch like crazy. A teenage boy next to me has his music on way too loud, and I start to get a headache. Then as I try to get more comfortable, the man next to me coughs and sprays me with his spit. I cringe in disgust and reach into my bag to grab some tissues. I then accidentally elbow the lady to my left, and she spills all of her lukewarm coffee right on my new sweater. Groaning in frustration, I use my tissues to clean up as much as I can. I could already tell that this was going to be a very long trip.

As you can see, train rides in densely populated cities such as Tokyo aren't pleasant. Could you ever imagine being on a crowded train with strangers just millimeters away from you?

2 comments:

  1. I can’t imagine Being stuffed in a train to got to a place you probably don’t even really want to go. Why don’t they have double Decker buses! they would have more room and be able to transport more people at once. I think it would be fun to stuff people in but at the same time I would feel bad because they are just trying to get to where they need to go. Would you go on the train or walk? cause i would just walk.

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