Shinkansen cleaning 7 min. miracle

[bikkuri bahn]

Most here are already familiar with this process, but it apparently is getting a lot of hits on youtube from outside Japan:

Edited June 23, 2015 by bikkuri bahn

[katoftw]

Thanks for the vid.  Didn't know about the secret button.

[Guest keio6000]

That dude at 1:21 doesn't look like the paragon of pride and diligence.  He looks like a literature major reduced to cleaning empty koala no machi packets out of seat backs.

[bikkuri bahn]

Well at least he's working, and it's a honest job. Respect for those who perform the dirty but necessary tasks is a virtue IMO.

[E6系]

Thank you Mr bikkuri bahn,

 

I agree with your sentiments entirely.  But it is not just the pride and diligence of the cleaning crew, but also the passengers who travel on the trains.  Did you not notice how clean the train was before the cleaners started?  The care and respect shown by the average passenger makes the job of the cleaning crew much easier.  

 

Further, in Japanese culture, we only write graffiti with invisible ink!

 

:D

[bikkuri bahn]

Though it must be said the Japanese were once not as fastidious about litter as they are now. At least until the sixties passengers just threw their garbage on the floor of trains, or out the window! My mother told me she remembers on train trips seeing the ground around station tracks being littered with the shattered remains of ceramic tea containers. This was back in the fifties before the widespread use of plastic containers.

Edited June 23, 2015 by bikkuri bahn

[kvp]

 

Did you not notice how clean the train was before the cleaners started?

It looked like pretty much the same as any Railjet or ICE train after a trip (or a typical mall food court). Of course those trains have on board garbage containers near the doors, so people can put their trash there. Anyway the cleaning crews do a good job of getting the interiors back in shape. I still don't get why the Japanese keep turning the train seats, it's something most european companies stopped doing in the 70-ies.

 

ps: 7 minutes / car, 20 cars / shift = 2.3 hours of work / shift. Assuming a 8 hour shift, that's one train every 24 minutes or with a 4 hour shift, one train every 12 minutes with 5 minutes between trains. The latter seems more plausible, which could mean they are either part time workers or doing multiple shifts. Does anywone know the real numbers?

[bikkuri bahn]

 I still don't get why the Japanese keep turning the train seats, it's something most european companies stopped doing in the 70-ies.

 

People tend to prefer to face in the direction of travel. Some people get motion sickness when their backs face the direction of travel too.  Anyway, if you are traveling in a group/as a family, and prefer a box seat arrangement for social reasons, you can turn the seats manually (after consulting nearby passengers) to make a face to face arrangement.

Edited June 24, 2015 by bikkuri bahn

[Robert46]

Thank you Mr bikkuri bahn,

 

I agree with your sentiments entirely.  But it is not just the pride and diligence of the cleaning crew, but also the passengers who travel on the trains.  Did you not notice how clean the train was before the cleaners started?  The care and respect shown by the average passenger makes the job of the cleaning crew much easier.  

 

Further, in Japanese culture, we only write graffiti with invisible ink!

 

:D

 

Totally agree with Mr. E6, not only the fastest cleaning crew who performed best, but the passengers also showing good culture, without passenger's involvement, it won't work that well... wondering if my country could have similar habit.. :) And this fast cleaning time definitely affected the on time performance of shinkansen timetable, the system really works well for many years... Respect!

 

PS: what do you mean invisible ink? I didn't get it.. :)

[Ochanomizu]

Though it must be said the Japanese were once not as fastidious about litter as they are now. At least until the sixties passengers just threw their garbage on the floor of trains, or out the window! My mother told me she remembers on train trips seeing the ground around station tracks being littered with the shattered remains of ceramic tea containers. This was back in the fifties before the widespread use of plastic containers.

 

Hello Mr bikkuri bahn,

 

As late as the mid 1980's it was not uncommon to see a man or two urinating beside the railway or road on my way to school.  But times have changed for the better, thanks largely to the excellent education system of Japan.

[miyakoji]

As late as the mid 1980's it was not uncommon to see a man or two urinating beside the railway or road

Lol, the day after I arrived in Japan, I was walking around Yotsukaido at maybe 6 AM. As I took in the new sights and sounds, in the distance I saw a man walking his dog. Thirty meters away, I thought "is that guy peeing?". Ten meters away, I knew that the guy was peeing. Natsukashii naaaa.

[E6系]

Hello,

 

Ha!  Ojiisan used to pee all the time.  So embarrassing.

[E6系]

 

PS: what do you mean invisible ink? I didn't get it.. :)

 

Hello Mr Robert46,

 

I just mean to say that you rarely see graffiti in Japan, at least, compared to many other countries.

[Robert46]

Oh I see.. LoL.. :D

 

I think so, not much graffiti or even none in Japan.. perhaps they don't like that kind of art. More in traditional way I think..

[katoftw]

The artwork isn't the issue.  People in Japan just respect other people property.

[bikkuri bahn]

Every time I sit down on a plush mohairesque subway/densha seat here in Japan, I shudder thinking what those seats would look like after just one day on an American subway...

[kvp]

 

I think so, not much graffiti or even none in Japan..

I've found lots of it on street views while trying to get a glimpse of some industrial yards. Actually not artistic graffiti but gang tags. An example for their usage is Kawasaki and they seem pretty consistent area wise.

[Robert46]

I've found lots of it on street views while trying to get a glimpse of some industrial yards. Actually not artistic graffiti but gang tags. An example for their usage is Kawasaki and they seem pretty consistent area wise.

 

It's just my opinion actually since I rarely to see any graffiti in Japan from many sources I've found. And I've never been there too. :) unlike in France, when I watched some on board videos where some sidewalls of railway track with full of graffiti..

[bikkuri bahn]

There is graffiti in Japan, just on a much smaller scale than in N. America, and vastly smaller than in Europe, especially Italy where some places its honestly filthy.  In Japan, it's confined to some underpasses and retaining walls in urban locations, and some buildings in places such along the western side of the Yamanote Line, i.e. where lots of young people gather.  You won't find graffiti or tags/marks on glass and on exterior/interior walls of trains like you find in the US and Europe- if someone does that, the train will be immediately taken out of service and fixed.

[railsquid]

I was dismayed to see some very small window scratchings on a train - I think it was the Yamanote Line - a few years back. Fortunately it seems to have been a one-off event.

 

Alas, graffiti (i.e. artless "tags") seems to be on the increase, albeit not at European levels. Someone has certainly made the effort to spray primitive markings on many buildings facing on to the Seibu Shinjuku line in recent months (which are not immediately visible to the building owners, and hence less likely to be cleaned off in a timely manner), and there are some tag marks on a wall not far from where I live which have been there a while.

 

Now, if you'll excuse the "get off my lawn" rant, these "tags" seem to be the human equivalent of dogs marking their "territory", and I'd like to see the perpetrators treated as such (i.e. kept on a leash, forced to eat industrial offal from cans, encouraged to develop a keen interest in sniffing the nether regions of like-minded individuals).

Edited June 27, 2015 by railsquid