Hulk2008,

That’s not fair. If you have ever been on a packed train in Japan, it is remarkably civilized. People consume good, fresh fish and do not smell of it. I don’t know where you get your deodorant data, but people’s underarms do not smell. There are loads of deodorants and little packets of prewet wipes that serve the same purpose.

You should only be so lucky to be on a crowded train in Japan.

The technicians should install electronic “sniffers” in the trains too.  After a long hard working day, a populace that consumes 2/3 of the world’s food fish, and huge crowds of folks that eschew deodorant, all packed into those trains, those sniffers would detect significant BO overload.  That dampens the cheeriest smiles.

I’d much prefer that my train driver not be smiling. Why should he/she? I’d much rather they concentrate on the job and the hand signals, which help keep them alert in an otherwise repetitive job.  Plus, I just love it that Shinagawa (largest train station in the world, I suspect) feel more secure with an approved “natural” smile-O-meter. Who decides what’s “natural” anyway?

BBC did a decent job on this one, but the last photo/voice combination was misleading. As a train driver, you might be justifiably serious since every station you arrive at might have a jumper. Serious fact of life here.

Well, time to go and herbivore some more…