It took me only a few days in Japan to notice that there are more uniformed guard-type people working here than is strictly necessary. Occasionally you might see one down a quiet back street, helping pedestrians to cross a road along which no car has travelled in the preceding four days. But he seems happy enough, waving his baton around and blowing his whistle at the invisible truck coming up the street.

Then yesterday I saw guards and automatic guards working in unison. That was a first. After monitoring the situation for a few minutes, I worked out that the guy nearest the camera is guarding the guy on the other side of the tracks, and that guy is guarding the guardrail which is guarding people from fast trains on the tracks, and that guardrail is also guarding the other guardrail nearest the camera, and just out of shot are four more guards guarding a Chief Guard who is guarding the whole overall guarding situation and at the same time being on the lookout for rogue guards who may have strayed from their guarding positions and accidentally on purpose be trying to guard the guards who absolutely do not need any guarding at all whatsoever.

This entry was posted on Sunday, June 12, 2005 at 9:15 pm. You can skip to the end and leave a response.