Tactless choice of words reveals embarrassing detail about his personal life.

In Japan, the common logic is that you should always conduct yourself politely in public, since you’re sharing the country’s very-limited space with others. However, sometimes the opposite happens, and the cramped conditions of living in Japan’s busiest cities causes people to forget their manners until someone gives them a sharply worded reminder.

Recently, Japanese Twitter users by the tens of thousands were applauding a story of in-train comeuppance. A pregnant woman boarded a train in Tokyo’s Asakusa Station and, carrying another life in her stomach, her frame had obviously grown to larger than normal. One middle-aged man, though, wasn’t happy about this. “Pregnant women take up too much space, so don’t ride the train,” he angrily told her.

At this point, a younger man, with the sort of flashily trendy hairstyle and clothing favored by host bar workers, approached. “Hey, old guy, aren’t you out of line? Would you say something like that to your wife?” he asked.

Odds are it was meant as a rhetorical question in order to get the older man to reflect on his impolite behavior. However, the middle-aged man answered in earnest, saying “I’m not married,” to which the younger man replied.

“That makes perfect sense! A guy like you will never find anyone who’d marry him.”

But as Twitter users applauded this story of sharp-tongued chivalry, it came to light that the person who’d shared in on Twitter wasn’t entirely virtuous. Though she’d presented the tale of her own experience, other Twitter users with longer memories pointed out that the exact same story, word-for-word, had been tweeted by Twitter user @nikukyu_nyago in 2016.

▼ @nikukyu_nyago’s tweet

https://twitter.com/nikukyu_nyago/status/785924254399340544

Still, that doesn’t make the young man’s actions themselves any less praise-worthy, and comments for both the original and copied tweet included:

“Too cool.”
“The younger guy sounds like a wonderful man.”
“So sad to hear that there are still guys like the middle-aged dude in this day in and age.”
“If he says ‘Don’t ride the train’ when you’re already on board, is he trying to force you to get off?”
“That’s as dumb as telling people who’re tall or heavyset that they shouldn’t ride the train.”

After being told off, the older man muttered a few quiet complaints while fleeing to another part of the train. It’s a good reminder that if you can’t say something nice, you’re probably better off not saying anything at all, unless you want someone to tell you to shut up.

Source: Hachima Kiko, Twitter/@nikukyu_nyago, Twitter/@komattainu
Top image: Pakutaso
Insert image: Pakutaso