trains

As a natural phenomenon loved by many, snow can be pretty cool. Unfortunately, in Tokyo, it’s often more like a wet, cold monster that ruins everything!

While some parts of Japan have no trouble dealing with the snow, Tokyo is another story entirely. For example, today’s snow in Tokyo meant numerous trains were running late…and thus people were packing onto every train they find! Unfortunately, that caused a slight problem at Shimo-Takaido Station…

▼ “The Keio Line has become the Keio War… The train is leaning to the side and people are fighting. Yikes!”

trainsTweet/@EXmumu

To be fair, though, it seems that the curved platform at Shimo-Takaido Station meant the trains already started at a pretty steep angle, so it’s not simply a matter of too many people on the train. But we’re pretty sure all those passengers didn’t help anything!

▼ The train on a good day is pictured on the right!

https://twitter.com/hasamihaaka/status/688911187749150720

With all the trains in disarray, even the staff sometimes had no idea what was going on. But we suspect some people might not have appreciated this particular sign…

▼ “Is there some snow there?” reads the orange text on the sign.
“At a time like this, you might as well just not display any advertising!”

According to another Twitter user, this poorly timed message was actually a slogan for JR SKISKI, a ski trip campaign run by JR (Japan Railways), though we have to agree…it might have been better to just turn the display off.

And here’s another example of a display that was definitely less than helpful. The kanji aligned vertically above the orange line are the names of stations. And the numbers in the white boxes under the station names are minutes — as in how many minutes until the train will arrive there. We’re guessing it might have been faster to walk to the next station than spend 70 minutes on the train!

This next tweet was sent out at 9:04 a.m. According to the display below, the next express train for Hachioji was at 5:46 p.m. Fortunately, the next local train was only…36 minutes away?!

▼ It was definitely a “crawl back in bed” kind of day…

But perhaps no one had as bad a day as this poor woman, who was utterly embarrassed on TV by her “romantic” boyfriend (or husband), who announced to the world, “When you’re with your lover in the snow, it’s like being awash in a special feeling. I like it!”

▼ This Twitter user’s response? “Shut up, four-eyes.”

▼ Well, we guess these “zombies” weren’t having a very good day either…

https://twitter.com/ic_73shioka/status/688850424850300928

Fortunately, some people found a small bit of solace from the cold. At Kami-fukuoka Station in Saitama, one supermarket let people inside to wait in line for their train.

▼ We hope everyone bought some warm cocoa!

And if you’re wondering just how bad the lines for the trains were, this photo ought to tell you all you need to know…

https://twitter.com/poyosuke2/status/688852936072364032

Of course, people from the parts of Japan that are used to the snow couldn’t help pointing out how well their trains were doing. Even when it was like barreling through a mountain of powered sugar!

To be fair, it would totally be possible for Tokyo to truly winterize their trains, but it would cost a ton of money and only end up mattering a few times a year at best. So, it probably wouldn’t really be worth it. Still, that’s no solace to everyone who spent hours commuting today!

If you still want more snow after all that, you may want to check out what happened to Shibuya’s statue of Hachiko today. It was totally punny!

Sources: Alfalfalfa, Twitter/@EXmumu, Naver Matome
Featured image: Twitter/@EXmumu; Twitter/poyosuke2; Twitter/EROYP