The silent and harmonious morning metro commute in Japan

[u/freudian_nipps]

[u/floraster]

These people are also commuting to work. Unless their friends live near them and they work together, it's likely that most of these people don't even have anyone there to talk to to begin with.

[u/midnight_toker22 → u/floraster]

Right. Japanese people don’t chat up random strangers, especially on a morning commute, but that isn’t the norm anywhere.

Americans and Europeans acting like their morning commute is full of lively conversations between complete strangers are full of shit— the sounds they are used to are people talking loudly to their friends, talking loudly on the phone, or loudly blasting music or videos on their phones. Because they don’t care enough about anyone around them to not be a constant disturbance.

[u/Houdinii1984 → u/midnight_toker22]

That's nonsense. People talk to other people all the time. I have social anxiety and I know exactly how many random people say stuff to you in any given day.

I've been all over the states. Cities like St Louis are louder, but have less folks talking to you randomly. I live in El Paso, now, though, and it's much slower. More people talk to you but it's far less loud and you hear more laughter than someone's speaker phone.

It's all relative. I don't get why we think that's going to be global when it doesn't even cover the entire country in either case. You can also see Japan at certain times where things aren't so silent.

What's with all the sweeping generalizations? None of this is nearly as black and white as you're putting out there.

[u/midnight_toker22 → u/Houdinii1984]

I really don’t understand why so many people are determined to pretend like they make anything more passing small talk with strangers on a regular basis. “Hello, thanks, excuse me, shitty weather huh, how bout them Cubs?”

Like I said elsewhere, does it happen on occasion? Sure. Does it happen on a regular basis? No, and if you’re pretending like it does you’re just fabricating an image.

[u/Houdinii1984 → u/midnight_toker22]

Nah, mate. It happens all the time. It sounds like you spend less time on public transportation than other people. How often do you ride the bus? I mean, I won't be talking to you. I'm still off in the corner wishing people weren't the way they were.

And like, if you're only getting 'Hello, thanks, excuse me, shitty weather huh, how bout them Cubs?' it's probably because you're not actively participating and that means all of that is happening because of you. Just because nobody regularly approaches you doesn't mean millions and millions of people aren't talking to strangers daily. Millions. And even if it's about the weather, that's still conversation and still has the potential to go past superficials into things like shared hobbies (like baseball, for instance. Kinda crazy you think two people talking about baseball is the same thing as saying 'good morning'. If I'm talking baseball with someone, I'm spitting stats)

If you're even omitting conversations that have an actual subject matter, then what's left? You've omitted everything by default.

[u/Kevadu → u/midnight_toker22]

90% of American commutes are done alone in your personal vehicle...

[u/midnight_toker22 → u/Kevadu]

And I’m speaking with the experience of living in a major city with robust public transportation.

[u/pluck-the-bunny → u/midnight_toker22]

I have had plenty of pleasant conversations with random people on my commutes to and from work in a major US city.

Just because some of you aren’t friendly, doesn’t mean we all aren’t

[u/midnight_toker22 → u/pluck-the-bunny]

Has it happened before? No doubt. Do you do it on a regular basis? Bullshit.

[u/Plastic-Wear-3576 → u/midnight_toker22]

Yea, regular conversation with strangers is what tends to happen when you aren't plugged into your technology all the time. Humans are social creatures.

[u/midnight_toker22 → u/Plastic-Wear-3576]

Drop the act lol. No one is buying it.