ルール：Rules that aren’t rules

12 comments

1. No eating or drinking while walking

2. There is also a walking side and standing side in my home country, this is despite the fact that multiple studies show that standing in two stationary columns on the escalator moves way more people.

   Habits are hard to break

3. [deleted]

4. Makes me think of the foreigner bubble on the train

5. You writing ルールs made mean unnecessarily mad lol

6. One very common ‘rule’ in my area, is no crossing the street on a red light, and no crossing the street where there is not a cross walk

   However, I spoke to 3 different policeman to confirm this….jaywalking is not a crime in Japan…its just advised for safety

   But I have been seen doing it by students parents in the past, and they complained to my school…I still do it, but its annoying

   I actually had a student who saw me do it, film me, and I fucking snapped….I felt guilty afterward because he’s a really nice kid who just thought he was messing around with me, but I exploded.

   We’re cool now but I think thats the angriest I have ever gotten at an individual student.

   To be fair though, he filmed me doing something he THOUGHT was illegal but wasnt, without my permission, which IS illegal

7. I’ve come to the conclusion that Japanese people are very good at following “social ルールs”, but you definitely cannot say Japanese people are “ルール-abiding”.

   Some of the ルールs that are common sense in Japan, like standing on the left/right side of the escalators are not really ルールs. But then, you see obvious ルール signs that everyone simply ignores.

   Go to any major park, and you will see signs saying no bicycle parking. Yet, you will see hundreds of bikes parked right in front of the signs. It is the law that you can’t ride a bicycle on the sidewalk unless it satisfies certain criteria, but when I ride on the road, many drivers think I’m breaking the ルールs.

   Driving 10 km/h over the speed limit is considered normal. But if you merge into someone’s lane and don’t flash your hazard lights (even though it’s against the ルールs), it is considered rude. Because that’s an ingrained social ルール.

   Anyway, I just want to type the word ルール again. ルール, ルール, ルール.

8. It’s ignored because when it comes to transportation-related things, Japanese culture is much more selfish than in other parts of its culture, and the “stand on both sides” rule is fundamentally stupid because it assumes that everybody has the same needs, disallowing that some people just want to stand quietly while others want to rush to get where they’re going. So people that want to rush rush.

9. Bag on your lap on the train

10. Walking on escalators causes them to deteriorate faster and need to be repaired/refurbished more often.
    This whole “don’t walk on escalators/stand in two lines” campaign is motivated by a desire to extend working life/decrease repair costs.
    Personally I’m in favor of standing in two lines.

11. This is 日本, you have to 守る the ルール。。

12. I kind of hate it when they have these rules but it’s on a request/お願い basis. So they’re like hardly enforced.

    Fe example, the helmets with bicycles thing. It’s “supposedly” mandatory but because it’s more a request basis (努力義務), there aren’t any fines or something for not wearing them. Just make it a God damn mandatory rule!