Mini-Post 2

Since I began taking the train regularly, I notice that the JR Chuo line is frequently delayed. It was pretty bad this morning and quite a number of my classmates came in late or didn't show up at all. It's not the worst thing in the world for us if the train is late -- you go to the customer service desk and they give you a little square piece of paper saying the train was late, thus you were late for whatever you had to go do.

Anyway before class started, sensei was making small talk with us in Japanese. I'm not sure if anyone else noticed, but I swear I heard her say something like, "Lots of people commit suicide on the Chuo line, huh?"

My face was something like o_0;

Because train delays are *always* due to suicides. I hope not.


EDIT: Apparently, the Chuo line does indeed get the most suicides. Jim says the Chuo trains go faster and the suicide fee sent to the surviving family members is the lowest for the Tokyo train lines. The fee part kind of confuses me because the JR company that runs Chuo also runs about a dozen other lines, and I would assume that the suicide fees would be the same across all their train lines. Regardless, I think charging such fees to a grieving family comes off as incredibly inappropriate and in poor taste.