Suppose you lived in a nation with no ethnic conflicts, strong attachment to a traditional culture, no land borders, the barest minimum of “entangling alliances” with foreign nations, no self-perceived role as guarantor of international stability, and no permanent seat on the U.N. Security Council. What would front page news look like in such a country?
This headline in Mainichi Daily News gives a clue: Passengers inconvenienced when doors of Tokyo subway train don’t open:
Dozens of passengers were inconvenienced when the doors of a subway train refused to open at a station in Tokyo, subway officials said.
The malfunction affected about 50 passengers who wanted to get off or get on a subway train at Myogadani Station on the Tokyo Metro Marunouchi Line in Bunkyo-ku at around 8:10 a.m. on Tuesday.
The 57-year-old male conductor did not manipulate the levers properly to open the doors of the train, which are designed to open in conjunction with barricades on the platform, according to Tokyo Metro officials.
There were about 120 passengers inside the train, among whom 20 wanted to get off at the station. They were forced to get off at the adjacent Shin-Otsuka Station and took another train back to Myogadani Station, the officials said.