Train Tensions

Howdy from LAX. Even though I'm not home yet, I'm close! This morning on the train in Tokyo, though, something interesting happened. It was rush hour, trains were packed, and Tokyo was its typical bustling self. I was on the train with my colleague, Takumi Shimizu, from our Tokyo office. Standing right by us was a young man and a young woman, probably both early 20s. She apparently lost her balance on the train, and stepped on his foot. Wow did this ever set him off in a rage. He started yelling at her (all in Japanese, of course), "Why did you step on my foot, you idiot; that hurt!" She countered with "I didn't do it on purpose, you idiot!"This guy was REALLY hot. Fortunately, he never took his hands out of his pants pockets; otherwise I fear he would have started hitting her. Shimizu-san, who is a big guy, especially for a Japanese person, put his arm in between them and all he did was say a soft but forceful, "Anata!" ("You!") to each one in turn as they wanted to keep the shouting match going. Each "Anata!" backed them off, though, and eventually it just became a silent stalemate. Way to go, Shimizu-san!!!

I think my colleague, our local Sales Manager, in Tokyo is a pschrink in disguise. He handled the situation very nicely.