Why won't you let me out!?

I can't get off the train when others are standing in front of the door.

One of the things that makes visitors ooh and ah about how orderly Japan is is the train system. Rather, the way people use the train system. Japanese commuters form lines on the platform like iron shavings form lines over a magnetic grid. It is a tacit nod to the laws of physics, an acceptance that they cannot occupy the same space as the people who will inevitably spill out of the train when it stops. Unlike some (all) of the other cities we could name, the people waiting for trains in Tokyo keep clear a path for the people exiting the train. Once these same model citizens get on the train, though, they join the rest of the world in the belief that the inside of a train car is a magical space where the laws of physics are suspended. Once they are planted in front of the door, there they take root until they get out at their own stop. Sometimes they sway slightly out of the way like stalks of kelp; sometimes they stand firm. And it is a little enraging. Some of the kindest people I know admit to taking pleasure in elbowing their way through a stand of stubborn door blockers with sharp jabs. Imagine how much worse it would be if you were a weird little knee-high teddy bear.