I just got off a train and tried to board the elevator. I’m visibly pregnant, and wear the badge. The young guy who boarded before me immediately started to hit the close button like crazy. The doors started to close as I was boarding, I almost got caught in them, and I had to hit and shove the door to get inside. Wtf. That’s all. I just had to rant.
by Lazy_Classroom7270
27 comments
Yeah people are getting worse and worse everywhere in the world, its so sad 🙁
People are idiots. Unfortunately they seem to be increasing.
Definitely won’t be the last time you’ll encounter an asshole during pregnancy here. I was on the train yesterday, also very visible pregnant and with two small toddlers in tow. Some guy in his early 20s was taking up two priority seats, refusing to move.
People are definitely getting weird. I’m in the Odakyu rn and a japanese guy, before saying excuse me, started shoving me with his hand (the train is not crowded at all).
After he and his girlfriend got out, i saw him showing her the same gesture he used to hit me and laughing.
It was super strange.
Ugh, that’s so rude! Sorry that happened to you, and unfortunately it doesn’t seem to get better 🙁 I was on the train with my baby and was about to sit down in the priority seat, but two young people rushed me and sat down instead. For the next 30min I had to stand on the jostling train while holding my 10mo old (he cried if in the stroller). There was an elderly man next to me and they didn’t even get up for him, no one in the seats did. People don’t give af about anyone but themselves these days.
Either an asshole or someone who needed to be somewhere super urgently. The only time I have “panic-closed” the elevator door like that when there were still people approaching the elevator was when I needed to get to a bathroom immediately. Not proud of it, but the alternative would have been even worse.
What an idiot. Next time you should confront them. They’ll immediately apologize. Sorry this happened.
I accidentally hit close when I’m trying to hit open all the time, lol. I’m old though.
I bet it’s autopilot. But he should have apologized!
At least you are safe. People are so caught up in their little bubbles, barely seeing other people . . . .
Don’t wear the badge…. Many of my friends who have had children here told me they never wore one due to it making pregnant women a target. Sadly they are correct
Fear. Your mutant gaijin fetus was obviously going to attack him facehugger style before you’d reach the ground floor.
Of my 40 weeks of pregnancy only 2 people ever gave me a seat. It’s really really sad honestly. I even had a girl hit my stomach as she left the train and sneer at me.
Be safe please.
I remember being on the Hibiya Line and the priority seats were full of perfectly able-bodied people sitting down. There was a foreign couple standing in front of them, the woman was visibly pregnant. The man was asking one of the people sitting down “excuse me, my wife is pregnant, can she sit down?” I remember him asking in Japanese very softly and politely, repeating the same phrase. The guy sat down was looking away, arms folded. Eventually he suddenly stood up and stormed down the carriage. This was years ago too.
People like these need to be confronted. They hide behind passive aggressive gestures but chicken out when confronted because they don’t know how to properly communicate directly. I don’t know if you’re a foreigner but I assume you are, he might have assumed you were a tourist.
General rule for next time: stand your ground, confront politely but assertively. In these scenarios, Don’t worry about being rude! Yes I’m a guy but I encourage my female family members as well as my friends to be assertive, too.
When I was pregnant, and it was before Covid, this shit happened a lot of time too.
But I feel it became worse recently. Like people blasting the close button to have the elevator for themselves became common.
I usually love to rush and hit the open button just before the doors close to see their defeated faces.
I’m sorry it happened to you. I do feel there’s a strange tension around Japanese elevators.
This is something I’ve been thinking for years. It’s a place where people are forced together physically but pretend to be completely on their own. In fact I occasionally pretend having missed an elevator, only to get the next one to have the space just for myself.
I was once in Vienna and was surprised to find people greeting each other in an elevator. I wish Japanese people knew how to interact with strangers like that.
Yesterday, saw a youngster occupying priority seats while an old lady was standing.
These things are becoming more frequent these days.
Friday night people pushed their way out of the train in a way so an old man fell down and hit his head on the floor. Usually things are pretty nice and efficient but sometimes people just have zero awareness and just push through
Young generation of Japanese , 20s are kinda crazy, they don’t care.
My wife told me that at work they even respond to costumer really bad and if the manager complain they jump to “are you power harassing me?”
😭😭so sorry about that … a lot of weird things happen and I sometimes read reports here and I’m left scratching my head
The other day at the train station I was trying to catch a connecting train so I was rushing up the stairs the side reserved for those going up was larger than for those going down , as I was going up with the crowd of people a Japanese guy going down aggressively bumped into me … despite how much I tried to shift my shoulders to avoid him … you know how you twist to avoid someone in a tight space … I understand that due to the crowd it might have been tight but he didn’t even make an effort … he just wanted to ram into me I was very surprised … what a very odd thing to do on a Friday night … and that’s nothing compared to your situation as a pregnant woman … I now understand why my friend who has a baby told me she doesn’t like using public transport or utilities as she always runs into weirdos
I legit cannot understand not giving priority. I actually have a disability, but since it’s not physical I nearly always give my seat.
The other day I was at the mall, this guy waited for two elevators (he wad with his kid). When the priority one came, I actually stopped it and asked “Is anyone in here NOT priority?”, and was ignored. You’re telling me in an entire elevator, filled with young people, not a SINGLE one of them is healthy enough not to be a priority???? For real???
These people should be ashamed of themselves.
In 2012 my wife was in a wheelchair for a while. (She’s not anymore)
This kind of shit happened all the time.
You kind of fall into a “w/e let them be assholes I’ll just avoid riding the train at any time of day that might be even remotely crowded.” pattern.
Sorry you had to go through this.
People in my office building immediately start hitting the close button as soon as they enter the elevator and hit their floor’s button.
Had one of them click their tongue when I reopened the closing door. That person was only going up one floor, too, and still quite young and able. Guess people are always in a hurry.
Such behavior is less common in shopping malls. I rarely take elevators in train stations so not sure what the general behavior is.
I’ve heard from Japanese women about how no one gives up their seat even with the badge and being visibly pregnant.
People here can be pretty selfish, and it’s been that way for years.
You should see the number of people in cars who don’t even stop for children crossing the road!
I think there’s an entire Facebook group about this issue. it happened to me so much when I had a baby in a buggy. The elevator was packed and no one would let me in. I started baby wearing after that. But elevator rudeness seems common here, sorry.
These are the stories that don’t get highlighted because people have their rose coloured glasses on and think it’s all butterflies and roses here. I’m so sorry this happened to you, OP! I’ve had this happen to me, too, but not while pregnant. Once, the person got away with it. The second time, I managed to get the door open and sarcastically thanked the asshole. I wish I could have gotten the door to close on him on his way out.
This post and all the comments below it were the push I needed. From now on I’ll start seating in the priority seats. I used to never sit in there by principle, but I think actively taking the seat with the goal of giving it to someone who needs it later is better than to let some random asshole take it and not give it away. Maybe leading by example will start a chain reaction too.
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