A video with the title 'How to Catch a Train in China' has been going all viral over the interweb, with shares galore on Facebook and the like.
Here it is if you've missed it:
Fun watching people getting canned like sardines.
One problem - the video was quite clearly made in Japan, as evidenced by the Japanese subway packer uniforms worn by those doing the sardine canning.
Oh, plus the fact they are speaking Japanese.
"Hai, oshimasu! Haittekudasai!" you can hear one shouting means "I'm going to push! Get in!"
In Japanese.
Japanese subway packers are such a fixture they even have their own Wiki entry, which describes them thus:
A pusher (oshiya 押し屋 in Japanese) is a worker who pushes people onto the train at a railway station during the morning and evening rush hours. When they were first brought in at Shinjuku Station, they were called "passenger arrangement staff" (旅客整理係, ryokaku seiri gakari), and were largely made up of students working part-time; nowadays, station staff and/or part-time workers fill these roles during morning rush hours on many lines.
Pusherman: oshiya at work
It becomes difficult to shut the doors when the number of passengers is over 200% of a train's capacity, but pushers are often stationed on platforms when trains are at around 120% capacity, as they also help to organize passengers.
The term oshiya (押し屋) is derived from the verb "osu" (押す), meaning "push", and the suffix "-ya" (屋), indicating "line of work."
Not convinced?
Here is the exact same video with the titled 'Japanese Train Station Morning Rush Hour Tokyo Seibu Line':
The video comes with the description...
Japanese Train Station during Morning Rush Hour. Seibu Line in Tokyo. It's absolutely murderous during the morning rush hour. The congestion at the station reaches its peak during the morning rush hours. During the rush hour in Tokyo and Osaka the trains run at intervals of a few minutes.
So... get your crushing commute countries correct, you hear!
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