The posters pictured below have been appearing in the Tokyo Metro stations since about April and depict things which are deemed inappropriate for on the trains. The Japanese may be famed for their politeness and on the whole they are much better behaved than back home where people are often seen and heard in terms of mobile phone use.

However, there are a select few who do things which don’t follow the traditions of Japanese etiquette. The posters (one different one each month) have been getting a bit desparate of late but the earlier ones were good and highlighted some problems which many find irritating such as noise pollution from earphones and taking up half of the seat next to you which some of you may find quite pernickety but this is Japan where rules are considered to be of far greater importance than in the western world where people do what they can to bend the rules.

I really don’t see why someone should be frowned upon for whispering into their phone behind their hand (a very Japanese thing to do) when salarymen get on the trains late at night reeking of alcohol and speaking at an unnecessarily high volume but because they are not on their phones they get away with it.

The thing I hate to see seems to have died down recently (maybe a successful campaign therefore!) but was very common a while back with young girls choosing to put on their make-up throughout their journey. Of course I am a fan of the way the Japanese females look and they certainly make great efforts in tarting themselves up each day but surely no-one wants to see them putting on their face in full view of other commuters.