Many often point to Japan as a culture and society that strongly values scenario-based rules of etiquette, and perhaps its highly praised modes of public transportation are one of the best ways to observe these strongly encouraged manners in action. Things like speaking loudly, talking on the phone, eating, or taking up too much space are discouraged as train-riding taboos. While these may come across as common sense to some, Japanese trains (outside of last train--drunk people means anything goes) display both very convenient transportation services and models of public behavior.

Unfortunately, younger generations and foreign visitors unfamiliar with Japanese train manners often don't observe this etiquette, which has lead to some creative etiquette-explanation posters by train lines to encourage good behavior. It appears the Los Angeles Metro is following suit, tapping into J-pop and other Japanese subcultures to remind passengers to follow the rules in a crazy video series!

If the style of this video looks familiar, that's because it was directed by Mike Davis, "maker of videos/music/Memes & Dreams" who was the mastermind behind the hilarious Donald Trump as a wacky Japanese commercial video. The series shows off the efforts of Super Kind (Cho-shinsetsu, 超親切), very much your typical Sentai heroine, to counter the nasty train behavior of Rude Dude (Meiwaku Boy, 迷惑ボーイ). The series features anime magical-girl transformation sequences, along with many tropes you'd find in sentai, over-the-top Japanese commercials, music videos, and even kaiju battles covering bad train behavior such as eating, seat-hogging, and aisle-blocking. Take a look!


By - grape Japan editorial staff.