Derailing Wacky Orientalism: A New Perspective on Oshiya

By Jerald Tan Jen Rong, Aloysius Ow Keng Hean, Brandon Ow Chong Hiang, Mohamad Matin Bin Mohamad, and Ang Wan Fang, Dawn

Japanese transport is renowned globally for its efficiency, with trains running to the exact second. Not long ago, in 2017, a Tokyo train company even apologised when a train left 20 seconds early (BBC News 2017). Contributing to this efficiency are oshiya (Figure 1), or train pushers, who have been depicted in various articles, videos and even video games. They are employed to ensure as many passengers as possible board their train while still allowing room for its doors to close. To the uninformed outsider, oshiya are the embodiment of “Wacky Japan”, an odd phenomenon unique to Japan (Wagenaar 2016). Indeed, oshiya subvert our expectations of how to behave on public transport. In other countries, squeezing onto an already crowded train would be frowned upon; the societal norm would be to wait for the next train. However, when it comes to oshiya and all things considered ‘wacky’, those from the West make no effort to understand in greater detail the ‘weirdness’ that they perceive (Wagenaar 2016, 51), resulting in a limited and biased view on the topic. By conducting a more nuanced study of the historical and sociocultural aspects of Japanese society, we may observe that the phenomenon of oshiya is in fact not as ‘wacky’ as presumed.

Figure 1: Oshiya in action at Tokyo’s Naka-Meguro station in 2006. (Screenshot from Youtube video, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7kor5nHtZQ)

To better understand oshiya, we must first understand the significance of trains in shaping Japan’s economy. It is also important to understand Japan’s work culture, which contributes to this phenomenon. Finally, social norms in Japan’s wider society also have a role to play in the existence of oshiya.

Role of Trains in Shaping Japan’s Economy 

The expansion of the railway network during the Meiji Period spurred the industrialization of Japan (Tang 2014, 864). Firstly, more extensive rail access significantly increased the market area of existing firms. This also led to the relocation of firms to densely populated areas, where firms could take advantage of larger sources of factory inputs, as well as the presence of higher demand. Lastly, the decline in transportation costs enabled firms to access raw materials that were once uneconomical. These factors supported the rapid growth of firms in Japan and the country’s economic growth in the early 20th Century.

Similarly, trains played a significant role in the rebuilding of Japan’s economy after World War II. The government, focused on rebuilding Japan’s manufacturing and heavy industries, financed loans to firms, enabling their expansion. This led to a rise in employment opportunities in urban centres such as Tokyo and Osaka. Many Japanese youth living in rural areas were attracted by these firms, which offered higher wages and fixed working hours. This led to a massive increase in post-war rural-urban migration. According to Duus (1998, 303), “every spring, firms […] brought newly recruited middle school graduates into cities by the trainload”. Between 1955 to 1970, the population of major cities in Japan increased yearly, by an average of 1 million. By the end of 1970s, cities had “spilled [over] their old boundaries into huge sprawling suburbs” (Duus 1998, 303). This large-scale migration was enabled by the growth of rail networks. Train networks were subsequently expanded to meet the increasing demands of students and working adults, who commuted daily from surrounding suburban prefectures into large cities. For example, in 1995, over 3 million people from surrounding prefectures relied on trains for their daily transport into Tokyo (Hirooka 2000, 24). This shows the great reliance the Japanese had on the train network, highlighting the vital role that trains played in supporting the growth of Japan’s economy.

However, with a rapid increase in ridership, congestion became commonplace, especially during peak hours (Nakamura 1995, 5). The practice of oshiya evolved alongside this, ensuring that commuters could get onto trains to get to their destination punctually and preventing a backlog of passengers waiting on the platform for the next train, which would quickly snowball and overload the transport network. Oshiya help ensure that millions of people get to work smoothly and quickly.

Workplace Culture and Identity in Japan

With trains playing such a significant role in the mobility of people to and from work, the introduction of oshiya highlights an interesting aspect of Japanese society. There seems to be a cultural consensus that work is important enough that people allow themselves to be pushed into a cramped train just to get to work on time. We will now explore the underlying reasons why Japanese people have such a strong affinity to their jobs, namely the close ties between workers and companies, and the work identity of the “salaryman” or male office worker.

In Japan, group harmony and a sense of belonging stand as basic values in society where the power of the group grants the individual prestige, status and strength (Wolf 2013, 118). This community spirit has extended into the workplace environment where companies have fostered an almost family-like relationship with their employees. Additionally, companies have often included the idea of familism, or kazokushugi, in their managerial practices, emphasising the importance of strong interpersonal communication and mutuality between the employee and the company (Yata 2015, 55). Employees often enjoy benefits for staying with their company, giving them good reason to subscribe to this workplace culture. Under the Japanese lifetime employment system, not only are employees granted long-term job security, they also receive additional benefits for both personal and familial matters such as medical insurance and financial grants for housing. The perks experienced by employees served as a catalyst for their immense loyalty and devotion to the company as a means of expressing gratitude (Wolf 2013, 118), explaining the strong sense of belonging employees feel to their company.

Furthermore, Japan’s heavy emphasis on the salaryman identity has also provided people with added incentive to devote themselves to their work. The often-preached ideals of working hard to achieve a comfortably ‘middle-class’ lifestyle, characterised by the three treasures of owning a washing machine, television and a refrigerator, was the goal of many Japanese males. This was the most tangible marker of social status in Japan in the postwar decades and many workers felt that by ‘working hard’ for their companies, they would be able to attain this status (Duus 1998, 300). Manifestations of this loyalty and hard work can be seen in not only the immensely long working hours but also in the need to be punctual for their jobs. Trains play a key role in this regard; given their precise schedule, a salaryman missing a particular train could mean a difference between showing up to work on time or late.

As such, the workplace culture and identity in Japan has developed in such a way that people have become immensely dedicated to their companies, creating a desire for people to get to work as soon as possible. In that sense, oshiya exist to facilitate this movement, while the commuters do not resist, as it fulfills their need to get to work quickly. However, to fully understand this phenomenon, we must also look at Japanese society outside of the workplace in further detail and familiarise ourselves with the social norms governing it.

Social Attitudes in Japanese Culture

In Japan, there is a strong focus on ingroups and outgroups, known as uchi and soto respectively (Hendry 2012, n.p). This concept of uchi and soto in turn greatly shape the interactions between individuals in society depending on whether they are members of the uchi. This distinction in behaviour is one that “corresponds to the difference between tatemae or public behaviour and honne or one’s real feelings” (Hendry 2012, n.p), with tatemae often being exhibited towards people classified under one’s soto to conceal one’s true thoughts. The expression of tatemae can be seen in the adherence to the oshiya’s actions, even as commuters are pushed into carriages and stuck in uncomfortable positions. Since the commuters and oshiya are strangers to each other, they would be classified under each other’s soto, hence the tatemae of silence and “acceptance” of the situation would be observed, as opposed to expressing their honne of discomfort at the oshiya. Tatemae expressed towards one’s soto helps form the social politeness observed in Japan. In reality, this social politeness is a tatemae put up in order to avoid social inconvenience, or meiwaku.

Taking a closer look at Japan’s history, it appears that avoidance of meiwaku is something deeply rooted in its culture. From the past, the teachings of neo-Confucianism had a strong influence in shaping Japanese society since its introduction to the imperial court in the Kofun period (Haugh 2011, 153). Understanding one’s social standing was preached by Confucian scholars of the time, particularly so with the Chu Hsi school of thought, who emphasised “doing one’s duty in accordance with one’s place in society” (Hane 1991, 160), also known as taigi meibun. This idea of social standing provides guidance for one’s actions in accordance with the society around them as they each understand their position in relation to another. This allows for society to operate more smoothly as individuals constantly recognise their position and consciously make an effort to maintain the societal status quo, avoiding meiwaku in the process. It can also be said that commuters understand their own duty and social role which is that of a worker, seeking to get to work on time, as well as that of the oshiya, whose social role is one that helps these people get on their required trains despite the crowd. From what we have observed based on the workplace culture, there is a strong desire to get to work on time. This, paired with the observance of their respective social roles, suggests commuters are willing to endure the discomfort experienced on a crowded train and are therefore willing to be pushed on to one.

Changing Trends 

However, in recent times, issues such as overworking have contributed to a change in the overall work culture and by extension, the role of train pushers. There has been a noticeable increase in the levels of overworking in Japan, to the extent that it has resulted in the phenomena of karoshi and karojisatsu, which directly translate to death and suicide due to overwork, respectively. According to the Ministry of Labour, there was a 45% increase of karojisatsu cases from 2011 to 2014 for ages 29 and below, and an astounding 1,456 compensated karoshi cases in March 2015 (Asgari, Garay, and Peckar 2017, 52-53). This has led to an increase in awareness of the severity of this issue, which spurred changes in government policy and labour standards. Despite the stipulated maximum of a 40-hour work week from the Labour Standards Act of 1947, employees still suffered from excessive overtime hours demanded by their employers. This resulted in an increased likelihood of karoshi cases. As such, some companies have made the extra effort to initiate new policies, such as an “interval system” which allows workers to go back to work only after eight hours have passed to ensure sufficient rest (Asgari, Garay, and Peckar 2017, 58), and offering more flexible working hours to allow workers to plan around their existing schedules.

In recent times, there has also been a shift in the Japanese view of an “ideal” lifestyle. Now, many prefer a more flexible working arrangement, prioritising their personal lives and freedom, resulting in a growing number of young adults choosing temporary or part-time jobs, also known as furītā, instead of striving to obtain professional full-time employment (Takami 2018, 50). Understanding the need for work-life balance, Japan’s Environment Minister, Shinjiro Koizumi even decided to take paternity leave, challenging the traditional gendered conventions of the salaryman concept, whereby there was an expectation and pressure for men to work, leaving most of the parenting duties to be fulfilled by women (CNA 2020). This represented a departure from the ‘absent father’ situation that was commonplace during the height of Japan’s economic growth, reflecting a shift in the idea of family and gender roles in Japanese society (Duus 1998, 305).

From the examples above, it is evident that Japan’s work culture is slowly evolving. Life outside of work is now considered just as important as work itself. With more flexible and less stringent working hours, there are now fewer people traveling during peak hours. Perhaps this is a sign of changing trends in both the workplace as well as society, thus providing us with a context as to why oshiya have become less prevalent today (Patowary, 2016).

Conclusion

We acknowledge that in light of recent shifting trends, the presence of oshiya holds less significance today than in the past. However, it does not detract from the historical and cultural factors that have influenced the existence of oshiya, nor the fact that Westerners have traditionally portrayed it as ‘wacky’. Increased train ridership due to urban migration highlighted the growing need for oshiya, and their relevance was reinforced by the desire for people to be punctual for work as well as the ingrained belief in social roles. These oshiya help to ensure that millions of people, which rely on public transit to travel around urban areas, get to work smoothly and quickly. Overall, it is evident that the supposedly ‘wacky’ phenomenon of train pushers is not a manifestation of Japan’s perceived weirdness as the Western orientalist would presume, but rather an important aspect of Japanese transportation, work and society.

 

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