Getting There Is Not Much Fun

"I wouldn't mind," said the anxious housewife at the Atami station of Japan's National Railways, "except they were a New Year's gift from my husband and he will kill me if he finds they are missing. He will not believe what happened.'' An understanding man, the stationmaster wired ahead to Nagoya. Sure enough, in one of the empty cars, there were the black lace panties that the woman had been wearing until she was caught in the rib-crunching free-for-all involved in getting on and off a train in Japan.

The lady's plight, presumably the result of failing elastic or flailing hands, is a familiar one to harried J.N.R. officials. Their lost-and-found warehouses bulge with an inventory that would do a department store proud: 1,800,000 items, including 25,000 wristwatches, 310,000 umbrellas, 180,000 books, 400,000 pieces of clothing, ranging from garter belts to greatcoats, four urns containing human ashes (prayed over daily by reverent warehouse employees), an electric motor, one pinball machine, false teeth, and several false eyeballs. Only 15% of the items are reclaimed. By auctioning the rest, and by pocketing unclaimed cash, the railways grossed $150,000 in 1962.

To reduce the size of its unwanted hoard, the railways are now broadcasting urgent announcements on trains reminding passengers to take their box lunches and briefcases. Burial urns are never mentioned, said one official, because "it's rather poor taste" to say something like "Please check to see you haven't forgotten your grandmother.'' But nobody expected the campaign to do much good. While forgetfulness is much to blame, so is overcrowding. Every day, 36 million Japanese ride the trains, 4,200,000 in Tokyo alone. At rush hours, 350 commuters jam into cars designed for 100, helped by brawny students who are paid 150 yen (42-c-) an hour to stand on the platform and shoehorn people inside. When the doors open, the scrimmage begins; cracked ribs are not uncommon. In such circumstances, the passenger's first concern is for his safety, not for his packages--or even his clothes. In fact, so many commuters lose their shoes fighting their way off the trains that the bigger stations now keep a supply of assorted shoes on hand.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.