For people who live in big cities in Japan, it’s no surprise that a fair portion of their mornings and evenings are spent commuting to and from work. They slog through the station following the hundreds of other people on their equally boring commute, head down, trying not to draw any unwanted attention. It can get really, really depressing.
However, what if you could make a small change that would alter people’s outlook on their commute? Instead of a dreary depression, how about switching everyone’s attitude to a sunny disposition? There is a simple suggestion that could turn everyone’s frown upside down and it could be as simple as changing the way the ticket gates work.
Picture your commute to work if you are a Japanese businessperson in Tokyo or another big city. You’ve got your train pass card in one hand, your briefcase in the other and you’re following the hordes in front of you. As you pass through the ticket gate, you place your card on the scanner and look down at the information screen to check that you have enough money on the card to get to your destination. Everyone is rushing for the train, so you keep looking down to make sure you don’t step on the feet of the person in front of you. Think about it, the whole experience is looking down, down, down, down in the dumps.
We’re willing to bet that if Japan Rail implemented Twitter user @imomushio‘s change to their ticket gates, it would change the whole outlook of the daily commuter.
▼ “People passing through ticket gates aren’t very energetic, so how about creating a high-five style one? (proposal)”
[tweet https://twitter.com/imomushio/status/605392407476060160 align=center]Isn’t that brilliant? Who doesn’t get a charge out of giving someone a high-five? Little children love it, teenagers love it and it’s the perfect way to energize you in the morning. Additionally in the grand scheme of things, it wouldn’t be such a huge change to make, given the potential benefits. Japan Rail could even put the screen that tells you the information about how much money you have left on your card at eye level with a polarized cover to encourage you to keep your head up and prevent prying eyes from gathering unwanted information.
There have been a few scientific studies conducted on the benefits of high-fiving someone, but people intrinsically know how good it feels and quite a few people responded positively to @imomushio’s suggestion.
“This is really an interesting idea”
“The day would be fun from the morning♪”
“Wow! Even if it only one was in place, I would make sure to go through it!”
We would love to see something like this in existence at train stations in Japan. It just might take some radical thinkers to approve the idea…Nitama, the yarn ball is in your court.
Source: CuRAZY
Top Image: Flickr/Ryosuke Sekido