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Shinkansen driver is one minute late, gets docked 56 yen ($0.49; £0.36) in wages, sues for 2.2 million yen ($19,407; £14,347)

Buntaro

運動不足
27 Dec 2003
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A Japanese train driver is suing his employer after he was docked 56 yen ($0.49; £0.36) in wages for causing a brief delay to the country's famously punctual rail system.

Train company JR West fined the man after a work mix-up in June 2020 caused a one-minute delay to operations.

It argued that no labour had been performed during the stoppage.

The employee is seeking 2.2 million yen ($19,407; £14,347) in damages for mental anguish caused by the ordeal.

(cont.)

 
They fined him less than $1. So he's just fighting this just out of principle it seems.

I wonder if they reduce staff pay every time somebody has to take a crap for no work being performed.
 
They fined him less than $1. So he's just fighting this just out of principle it seems.

I wonder if they reduce staff pay every time somebody has to take a crap for no work being performed.
Good for him. The 2005 Osaka train crash was put down to a driver taking a 60km/h bend at 110km/h because he was frightened of the bullying he would experience for being late - I remember reading that train drivers were often given tasks such as removing grass from the side of the railway as punishment for being late. It seems that the culture at JR West hasn't improved much since then.
 
Japan is known for having people who are incredibly punctual, landscape that is incredibly clean, etc. Unfortunately, there is an emotional price to pay for all of this.
 
I feel I must qualify that statement about Japan's cleanliness. Japan is incredibly clean when someone is looking. The residential area of mainly two-storey houses where I live is spotless. A few minutes away is Mejiro Dori, one of the major roads leading out of Tokyo and flanked by warehouses, car showrooms, and large apartment blocks with no close-up prying eyes of neighbours, and the pavements are festooned with litter.
 
I feel I must qualify that statement about Japan's cleanliness. Japan is incredibly clean when someone is looking. The residential area of mainly two-storey houses where I live is spotless. A few minutes away is Mejiro Dori, one of the major roads leading out of Tokyo and flanked by warehouses, car showrooms, and large apartment blocks with no close-up prying eyes of neighbours, and the pavements are festooned with litter.
That's kind of sad, but I feel like the same applies with a lot of places. I know personally the city area of New Orleans is what everybody looks at so it's really showy and litter is less prevalent, but go 10 minutes out the city and you in the ghetto with a bunch of litter 🙈
 
That's kind of sad, but I feel like the same applies with a lot of places. I know personally the city area of New Orleans is what everybody looks at so it's really showy and litter is less prevalent, but go 10 minutes out the city and you in the ghetto with a bunch of litter 🙈
Though I imagine that New Orleans doesn't keep bragging about how clean it is! :)
 
I feel I must qualify that statement about Japan's cleanliness. Japan is incredibly clean when someone is looking. The residential area of mainly two-storey houses where I live is spotless. A few minutes away is Mejiro Dori, one of the major roads leading out of Tokyo and flanked by warehouses, car showrooms, and large apartment blocks with no close-up prying eyes of neighbours, and the pavements are festooned with litter.
People litter in the clean areas too but the often elderly home or shop owners are very diligent about cleaning the sidewalk and road in front of their home or storefronts.
 
People litter in the clean areas too but the often elderly home or shop owners are very diligent about cleaning the sidewalk and road in front of their home or storefronts.
Particularly in autumn. Fallen leaves seem to be an abomination here!
 
I feel I must qualify that statement about Japan's cleanliness. Japan is incredibly clean when someone is looking. The residential area of mainly two-storey houses where I live is spotless. A few minutes away is Mejiro Dori, one of the major roads leading out of Tokyo and flanked by warehouses, car showrooms, and large apartment blocks with no close-up prying eyes of neighbours, and the pavements are festooned with litter.

And it's not just litter. We have a dark back alley in our neighbourhood adjacent to Tomei highway where people regularly discard their washing machines, rice cookers, and other electrical appliances. The municipality sweeps the area every few months. So instead of spending 2,000 JPY on correct disposal, people resort to cloak-and-dagger dumping.

However, what is thankfully absent from Japanese pavements, benches, etc., is wasted chewing gum.
 
It will be that many Japanese who heard this news remembered "2005 Fukuchiyama Line derailment".


The cause of this accident was that the driver overspeeded to catch up with a one and a half minute delay.
In those days, in JR WEST, the delay made penal regulations for a driver.
We understood that JR WEST did not reflect on us at all.
 
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