Crowds

I really can't stand crowds. I don't have a fear of crowds or crowded places, I just don't like crowds where no one really knows where they're going and are in the way.

On the train ride to city center, the express train wasn't too crowded but crowded enough. There I was, just reading a chapter from "A Dance With Dragons," immersed in political intrigue when a girl on her phone lost her  balance and landed heel first right on my foot.

It was so painful, I was about to go off on her and her "cheap high heel fashion shoes" when I looked down and saw that they weren't "cheap high heel fashion shoes" but "cheap gladiator sandals" that have been sold every summer in Japan since I arrived in Yokohama back in '08. For a split second, I was confused as to WHY the affect of her step wasn't caused by a cheap heel since it hurt so bad and I'm one who can tolerate pain pretty well. Then I realized idiot woman didn't hold onto anything, not even the hoop hanging above her head because she was SO immersed with her phone and talking to her friend at the same time that it was out of sheer carelessness that she lost her footing and landed heel first on my foot. I was so annoyed, I looked her up and down and gave her a dirty look. (My tolerance for people and their carelessness is very low, and even lower for people who are oblivious to their surroundings.) I decided not to waste my breath when I noticed she turned her head and bowed to apologize. At least I got that. Some people try to play ignorant.

When I got off, I realized that there were quite a lot of people in summer kimonos and that's when I realized, "AW CRAP...freakin' fireworks today." It was so crowded in the station that I felt the temperature rose from accumulated body heat.

People everywhere. Waiting, walking, rushing, stopping in front of escalators, standing in the way because they feel they're entitled to the fact that others must walk around them. I get annoyed and agitated easily when around crowds like this because of their ignorance and carelessness of all the people around them.

I can handle rush hour in New York and London better than Japanese crowds. If people shove, you just go with it but when they're just in the way looking lost, I'm sorry but wake up and get out of the way. Don't stop when in a crowded place because people are BEHIND you. It's like the lost tourists in San Francisco only you could tell they're tourists. In Yokohama, they're just space cadets.

And that's why I don't like crowds in Japan. Carelessness, oblivious to their surroundings, and idiots so busy on their phones that they forget to hold onto the hoop and slam heel first on their neighbor's foot. How annoying.

To end this on a better note though, this made my day. On Yahoo, a featured article was of a sunfish. I've seen sunfish before at the Kaiyuukan in Osaka and I believe they have one at the Enoshima Aquarium too but they're just crazy looking. Check out the article below.

http://www.grindtv.com/outdoor/blog/34335/two+years+later+alien-like+sea+creature+gains+internet+stardom/

~P. Bear