Gaijin Jump

By Craig Chapin. First published in September 1988.

While chivalry is dying in the West, it never gained much of a foothold in Japan, so those who have seats on Japan’s famously crowded trains seldom vacate them for others.

One day, when I was traveling with a Japanese man, I saw a woman who was probably in her late fifties standing in the aisle. I stood up and let her have my seat. Behind me, however, was a much older woman who was also standing in the aisle. My traveling companion kept looking at her and then down at his lap, and I could tell that he was agonizing over what to do.

After this had gone on for a while, he leaped to his feet and offered the older lady his seat. At first she declined, but he insisted until she sat down.

About twenty minutes later, she fumbled in her purse and offered him a small card. It was an “Orange Card,” a pre-paid farecard for traveling by train, worth about ten dollars. My companion accepted it without blinking.