Photo/Illutration A city-operated subway train in Sapporo (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

Every time I visit Sapporo on business and ride the city’s subway, I am surprised that the seats marked “yusen seki” (priority seats) are invariably left unoccupied, even during rush hour.

Strictly speaking, they are “senyo seki” (dedicated seats), intended exclusively for the elderly, the disabled and people travelling with infants. It is very rare to see any other people sitting in those seats.

“The awareness that those are dedicated seats where young and healthy people shouldn’t be sitting has firmly taken root among Sapporo citizens. For them, it’s just a matter of common courtesy to stay away from those seats,” explained Yoshito Dobashi, 55, a professor specializing in transportation planning at the Kanazawa Institute of Technology who is a Sapporo native.

Any out-of-towner who is still new to Sapporo and makes the mistake of planting oneself in a senyo seki will draw icy glares from fellow passengers.

In fact, an incident occurred in May last year. A female Self-Defense Forces officer was seated in a senyo seki, and a male senior high school student admonished her. But a male SDF officer, who was travelling with her, got riled and assaulted the youth. The man was arrested on the spot.

A few years ago, Dobashi marshaled a team of researchers to study the yusen seki seating situation on three subway lines each in the Kanto region and the city of Sapporo.

In the Kanto region, they found that less than 20 percent of yusen seki users were people for whom the seats were meant. But the corresponding figure in Sapporo exceeded 90 percent, indicating the seats were indeed being used as intended.

Dobashi is a former Japan Overseas Cooperation Volunteer of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). While serving in Fiji, he was involved in an accident, and he has needed a walking cane ever since.

When he went to study in Britain later, he was always offered a seat when he boarded a bus or a train. But when he returned to Japan, he usually found all priority seats taken by passengers who didn’t need them.

“I hope to see this ‘transportation barrier’ resolved by a simple verbal exchange between the person willing to give up their seat and the person needing the seat,” Dobashi said.

A look at the history of Japan’s railway service shows that on Sept. 15 exactly 50 years ago, “Silver Seats,” meant for the elderly and those with disabilities, debuted on the former Japanese National Railways.

I wonder if there will ever come a “dream era” when priority and dedicated seats are eliminated from all trains and buses in Japan, but not one passenger is inconvenienced.

--The Asahi Shimbun, Sept. 11

(This article was carried only in extra online editions on a recent newspaper holiday.)

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Vox Populi, Vox Dei is a popular daily column that takes up a wide range of topics, including culture, arts and social trends and developments. Written by veteran Asahi Shimbun writers, the column provides useful perspectives on and insights into contemporary Japan and its culture.

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