Subway Observations and Bear Attack

 May 29, 2023

I am going to spend some time using public transport today. First 1 1/2 hours to Leopard Express to pay in cash what my idiot bank is unable to do online, and then an hour back to the company that will send my motorcycle home without having me pay $6,000 for a bloody container. Both things turn out fine, if time consuming, and I get to use a payphone for the first time in 17 years. Also sit next to a couple of sumo wrestlers on the subway; those guys are really huge when you see them in real life.

After all that I go search for the area with hundreds of motorcycle shops located behind the Ueno subway Station. I find the area, but the shops are all gone, save for four or five that just sell mainstream stuff. The memories still live on The Internets, so if you want to get an idea of what once was but which you missed, google 'ueno motorcycle shops' and scroll down to what 'motorcycle cruiser' wrote about it seven years ago. A damn shame, it really was a fun place.

A bit discouraged after walking around in the rain for half an hour, I seek refuge in a book cafe, with an ecological cola and The Japan Times, an English language newspaper telling partly about what is going on in the world in general, and in Japan in particular. Today's front page has a story about the 12,000 bears roaming around on Hokkaido, one of which recently made the choice between a lot of berries and however many calories one human being out fishing could provide: "An eyewitness told police a bear was seen in the area with waders in its mouth and an as-yet unidentified human head was found in the area the following day". Can't help wondering if they'll mention it on his tombstone.

Sleeping on the subway is pretty normal around here. Yesterday I had a woman resting 

her head on my shoulder for almost half an hour, when on the train in the early evening.

The picture doesn't do the sumo guy justice, when it comes to how big he 

and his buddy sitting next to me were.

Many subway trains have a car for women who want to avoid men groping them when the whole 

train is packed to max capacity. Works well too for those of us who invoke our Tourist Zombie Rights' 

(a.k.a. doing a 'Gaijin smash') and need a bit more personal space during rush hour.

Some JR lines have a few two-level cars with reclining seats and a guy selling beverages and snacks. 

I already scanned my train card for this extra service, but he did too, draining the card.

What you do get aside from comfort and a can of Pepsi, is a Dachshund's view of the world when coming into a station. It beats the Shinkansen as far as views go (though only if you like the relative charms of a 

cityscape under construction), because the fast one has tall noise barriers in all city areas.

Inside the book cafe, and below an outside view. The place even has a bakery upstairs named

 'Route Pain' (partly French name). Can't get enough of either...

Ticket vending machine & Dane at the local subway station. It was great fun trying to figure out 

how it worked, back before Pasmo and Suica electronic cards became the norm.