31 July, Ueno district, Tokyo

                Asphyxiating, heavy, thick heat. 30 degrees when I arrived at 9:30 pm at the hotel.

                More than one guides had promised a quiet area, with few bars and many residents, the only thing all the residents were out. And not just them.

                The streets were as typical of Tokyo as you can imagine, crowded lights, food advertised everywhere, lively shops, people queuing at the traffic lights and English pubs. Yes, English pubs with panel in Japanese letters, Japanese people were drunk by English beers.

                In the train from Narita airport to the Ueno district there was of those Japanese lying on the floor.

                Well dressed and with rather good haircut he spent about twenty minutes in his half sleep and half-awake status rubbing the train, in total passenger indifference. Anyway he rubs and rubs, and after a while he started losing pieces, first the shoulder bag, then the earphones and then his smartphone. Everything seemed normal.

                Caught by a sudden illumination he stood up and grabbed the brown bag that was on the floor and staggered towards the door. He sensed somehow that next stop would be his. There were still 10 minutes left. Meanwhile, smartphones and earphones remained lying on the ground. Wait a little, I turned to see if the guy, who was in front of him, would takes them, but he was busy with his cell phone. I turned the other way; there were a dozen passengers, all taken by their worries. I wait and see, I see and I wait and a voice informs us that we are arriving at the Ato station. Cell phones and earphones are still inert on the floor and the guy still standing looks at the door through his eyelids.

                There was nothing else to do; I got them and I gave to him. He opens a half-eye, since he feels the contact of me trying to stick the cellphone and earphone into his hands. He seems to thank.

                And so I was wrong.

                All the other passengers had watched the scene. No one seemed to agree with what I have done. I think about it and maybe I should have done nothing. In a society like the Japanese one where the correct behave and perfect face are very important, when one puts that face on a train floor, it probably deserves to lose that and all the rest. Every action always has a responsibility. You lose your face because you got drunk then you lose your phone. It seems a fair deal.

                Speaking of culture shock. A group of children entered after a while. Two of them start playing with their hands. It looks like a 'rock–paper–scissors' game. But instead of using one hand to play, they use both hands, put together in a fist and they made the three possible ‘shape’ by raising or lowering the thumbs of the two hands. Strange???

                Anyway in the 'quiet' district of Ueno I found a typical Japanese inn.