From Stupid to Awesome

We've heard it said that if you want a diagram of the many lines of the Tokyo Metro, all you have to do is grab a handful of spaghetti noodles, throw them onto a map of the city, and you'll have your map of the Tokyo Metro lines.  That's not too far of a reach, and when we first moved here, the metro was one of the most frustrating aspects of living in the biggest city in the world.  We hated walking to a metro station, especially when it was raining.  We feared being separated from each other should we not all get on before the doors closed.   We missed the independence and convenience of our own car.  We hated needing to study a map and figure out our route every time we needed to go somewhere.  We hated getting lost and not knowing which line we needed to take to get home.  We hated the crowds of people pushed into a small space.  The Tokyo Metro was known as the "Stupid Metro" in our home, and for awhile, that's what we always called it.

But, like many things in Japan that were different for us, over time we began to love it.  The walk to the metro stations were good exercise for us.  We began to enjoy walking wherever we needed to go.  Some of the kids liked to study the map, and eventually Chris even had it memorized.  Whenever we would get lost or confused, all we had to do was ask Chris and he would tell us what lines we needed to take to get back home.  The kids liked taking turns buying all of our tickets from the ticket machine using our Pasmo card.

Nathan and Audra were too young to need tickets, but they would use Mom's or Dad's ticket so they could put it in the machine like everyone else.
For the kids, putting the ticket in the machine was fun, and of course, we always had to use the pink ones--otherwise Audra would throw a fit. 

Often, the metro stations were crowded, but over time we found ourselves enjoying the crowds because it gave us a chance to people watch.  Most of the people who live in Tokyo are professional business people.  They dress very nice, especially the women.  The women are very feminine and they seem to enjoy dressing themselves up.   They always have beautiful hair, beautiful skin/make-up, nice jewelry and hair accessories.  And, the Japanese women love their heels!  It seems like the best and most unique shoes in the world are found in Tokyo, both for men and women.  We got so we enjoyed looking around at all the people and appreciating how they dress and take care of themselves. 


We also loved that no matter how many people were around and how much of a hurry everyone was, people were respectful and courteous.  Everyone would stand in line and wait for the metro to show up.  As soon as the train pulled up, everyone waited a few seconds for those who needed to get off, and then there was a dash into the cars.  We never saw any pushing, though.  There was an order to it, and everyone followed the order. 
Given our large family size, there were times when we DID get separated from each other.  Given the crowds and the 30 seconds or so that the doors are open, we couldn't always ALL get on in time.  This was solved by the good old-fashioned buddy system.  If there were crowds, I would tell the kids to "buddy up".  They would immediately grab the hand of a sibling, the older ones taking the hand of a younger one.  That way, if and when we got separated, a child was never left all alone.  They always had a least one sibling with them.  In the five months that we have been living in Japan, we have been separated three times by doors closing too soon.  This used to be Mom's biggest fear, but when it happened, we would quickly get back together and everything was always o.k. 

Sometimes the cars were empty, and sometimes they were SOOO crowded that we were getting smashed against each other and couldn't hardly breathe.  If we didn't like how crowded one train was, we would wait and take the next train.  Usually, the next train would be less crowded.
We have had a lot of good conversations on the metro as we have traveled--both with each other and with other people.  Most of the time, though, all of the Japanese people are looking at their phones. 

Once, when it was really crowded and we were all standing up, Caitlin had her bottom pinched by a man standing next to her.  This has become a problem in Tokyo, and something that we have tried to watch out for.  It made Ray and me mad when we found out about it, but it was after the fact.  Caitlin handled it well though.  We were so crowded that she couldn't turn around or make a scene, so she just stomped really hard on his foot.  He winced and didn't mess with her again. 
This is such a problem in Tokyo that during certain times of the day, the last two cars in a train are for "women only".  We often used these cars because the children could get on those cars as well, and this eliminated the concern of men accosting any of us.

We have come to really appreciate the Tokyo metro, but even more so every time we travel outside of Tokyo.  Every other city that we have been to doesn't have anywhere close to the same system.  It has been very hard to get around other cities--Tokyo is VERY easy to get around and we are so grateful for that!  The metro here is reliable, efficient and fast.
People in Tokyo are very busy and have places to go.  The metro system accommodates that and a train runs through a station every 1-3 minutes.  We have come to love the fast pace of Tokyo in comparison to the other cities in Japan that we have visited.  The lack of an extensive and well-laid metro along with much longer wait times between trains have often made us homesick for Tokyo while we have been in other cities. 

Bottom line, we used to loathe the "Stupid Metro", but it has gradually become something that we love.  We are so grateful for the metro, grateful for how easy it has made our life in Tokyo.  The boys especially, have LOVED riding trains wherever we go, and are really going to miss it when we go back to the states.  Some of the kids want to keep a map of the metro and take it home with them as a memento of our time here.  Logan keeps asking if we can keep walking when we have to go somewhere once we get back to Laramie....we'll see.  I wouldn't mind that at all if Laramie had a metro as extensive and awesome as Tokyo's!