Underground Rumbling

      Before I moved into the Manor, I had no idea that a subway station could be polished to a high sheen. Vast experience on the grimy Broadway IRT and London Circle Line inured me to litter in subway cars, buskers strumming guitar on platforms to the tune of spare change and beggars soliciting donations. Descending into the Azabu Juban eki (station) I pass a uniformed cleaner scrubbing the stairs and yellow indicators that lead the blind to the turnstile. Expert moppers keep white stations pristine; escalator handrails glisten thanks to the detail at the bottom pressing a wet cloth to it with both hands. Mr. Clean could not keep up the pace.

      With the bar for cleanliness set so high, standards of behavior are expected to match. To clarify expectations Tokyo Metro issues a poster every month with a different message about proper behavior. Rumor has it that the series began due to mascara rage: An older woman objected to a younger one applying eye make-up in transit. A shoving match ensued, which triggered a poster of a woman seated in a subway car using an eyelash curler above the caption: "Please do it at home." So followed the yellow-and black series of what is not acceptable (listening to loud headphones, drinking, taking more than one seat etc) by 35 year old artist Bunpei Yorifuji who considers his work a form of manga. With a copywriter he sifts through letters of complaint to come up with the monthly output. Edward Hopper inspires Yorifuji's work.

     As Tokyo enters the month for gogatsu byokii (May madness), the number of suicides interferes with train service due to jumpers. For the average fare of Y 190 ($2) the underground traveler anticipates no problems, and even one minute delay triggers a series of apologetic announcements by the immaculate conductors. Suicide season is due to stress accrued in April, when many new recruits start jobs. Families of the jumpers are billed for the interruption to subway service, which is so precise that commuters go to a web site (Jorudan route finder) to map their travels. To date Yorifuji has not addressed this display of what some might consider rude behavior.