Beau's Blog

Imagine this, you’re on vacation… To Japan no less! You’ve made it to Tokyo and it’s time to take your first train; you figure out tickets and step onboard. After scanning left and right, there’s a decision to be made…

Where do I sit?

After years of rigorous research AKA riding Tokyo trains, I have your answer. I present to you the solution to picking the correct empty seat.

ChooChoo Algorithm

1. Sit in an edge seat with no one next to it, else
2. Sit in a seat with no one next to it, else
3. Sit in a seat with one person next to it, else
4. Sit any seat

Tiebreaking Considerations
-Proximity to entry point
-Proximity to ideal exit point… For example, if you’re in car 4 and know when you leave the train, you’ll need to exit the platform near car 1, you may choose to sit further forward in car 4 than the algorithm may suggest or even walk through to car 3 or beyond.

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This is all well for sitting but what if there are no empty seats? Then, standing it is. My take is that there is more personal preference involved when choosing where to stand as opposed to sitting.

For standing, it’s important to consider how badly you want to sit and how long you’ll be on the train before getting off.

If you don’t mind standing then pick a spot close to doors. Close to doors, if you’re getting off on the next stop, prioritize standing on the side of the train where the doors will open. If you’re getting off a little later, it likely makes more sense to stand by the other side’s doors.

Instead if you’re forced to stand but really want to be sitting, it’s time to play a game. The game is like poker; it combines both reading people as well as probabilities.

Consider the following

• Which sitting people appear to be most likely to leave earliest?
• Prioritize areas with unrelated people. Ex: if there is a large family sitting together, they probably will leave all at once so it may be better to not have all your eggs in that basket
• Is there an elderly person or someone in need already waiting to sit? If so go elsewhere to not be a dick and swipe their spot.
• If there are already several people standing near seats on one side but only a couple on the other, go to where there are fewer people already waiting to maximize your accessible seats

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It’s worth noting that of course there is more complexity in real life. You may be exhausted and optimizing like this is just not worth it. It may even make sense to just pick the first visible seat or standing area.

With this knowledge, go forth and optimize your Japanese train riding experiences or don’t. As with so many things in life, play this game as you like. I enjoy thinking through these scenarios and playing this game!

Who knows, you might even find yourself on a train with no one…