See the trouble with high population density and heavy use of mass transit it that you create the perfect environment for viruses to be passed around. The trains in Tokyo are jam packed during rush hour and I get into that odd position once in a while of being literally smashed face to face with a complete stranger. There isn't enough space to read a book or newspaper (let alone raise your arms up) so you just end up turning your head a little to the side in coordination with your inadvertent partner and zoning out or closing your eyes and listening to music. Maybe you're lucky enough to be on one of the newer trains that has a TV set on the wall showing commercials. All you can do in this situation is hope and pray that this dude doesn't have something contagious, and during the summer/fall/winter seasonal boundary (this is one singular thing in Japan), he does. What better place to spread disease around than a crowded train full of thousands of people. Oh, and during acceleration and deceleration the air gets a nice stirring from front to back so that just in case the dude doesn't in fact have something infectious, you can get a shot from that other guy two cars over. So I have been sick three times in the last three weeks, and it is really negatively affecting me. It's just this ugly bronchial and throat infection thing that I'm doing a bad job of shaking of at this point. Rieko's been out now too.

Tags: sick