Mr. Trainman

Ever heard of this guy? Well, he's out there, somewhere in the crowds that inhabit this city. Mr. Trainman works as an IT specialist at a company. Whether it is because his desk is hidden in the corner of the office floor, or whether it is because he is so quiet--well, probably both--we cannot say for sure, but he often goes unnoticed by everyone around him. He commutes to and from work hiding behind backs, pillars, and shadows, slithering through the crowd. When he is noticed, it is because he has tripped on nothing and has fallen on his face. Or he's woken up in a screaming fit on the train.

When he goes home, he sits in front of his computer and his social life begins there. He knows not the faces or the voices of the people he types to, but they are his friends nonetheless, and every night they talk to each other about...life, I guess?

Anyways, there is a happy event to this apparently miserable and pathetic story of Mr. Trainman. He meets a girl one day on the train. She is being harrassed by an intoxicated salaryman, and he steps in. Well, he kind of throws himself onto the man from behind and shudders by the door whilst the attacked drunkard transfers his frustration upon him. Luckily, some train officers intercept the drunken man and drag him off the train. The girl asks for his contact info so that she can get a hold of him later, to send a gift, perhaps.

So to make a long story short, with the help of his online friends he refashions himself, changes his way, and gets the girl in the end. They marry.

This story portrays a man that is so typical in contemporary Japan. It also vividly portrays the lives of his so-called 'friends', who lead various lives of their own--a heart-broken nurse, a detached wife, her silent husband (they don't know that they're in the same chatroom until the end), a depressed youth, and three students who don't have any idea what they want to do with their lives--and the ways in which they 'refashion' their selves while they cheer and encourage Mr. Trainman along.

The story was a movie (^-^). And it was based on a true story. So Mr. Trainman is still out there, living his happy life with his beloved wife! Isn't it a great story? Programmes with plots like these are so common, I find. Whether it's because people here are longing for some 'pure' form of love or some other idyllic notion, I don't really know. I can't help but be reminded of the article that I wrote about before...