Osaka in the Kansai region and Tokyo in the Kanto region are famous for having many very different customs and habits, from how to walk on the escalator, how a bowl of miso soup is placed on the table or how to eat rice balls… But there is one

Specifically, if you look at a train station in Tokyo, you will see…

Meanwhile, in Osaka, the waiting seats were facing away.

Soranews24’s reporter discovered this interesting fact and wondered if this difference had any meaning or was it just an accidental arrangement.

Interviewer: I’ve seen this at stations in Osaka and Hyogo so I want to ask – why do the seats face parallel to the platform?

Well, the main reason is to prevent drunk customers from falling (into the tracks).

So it’s to prevent drunk people from falling off the platform?

Well, it will take me a while to check when they were officially introduced, but from what I remember, the new seat configuration first appeared around 5 to 6 years ago.

Hmm.

I understand what you said.

I got it.

I don’t know the details about the cost, but I think that might be part of the reason.

Well, that clears things up!

It turned out that the main reason for the unusual seating arrangement was to protect drunk customers from falling off the platform.

Drunkenness leading to falls is a big problem at train stations across Japan, so much so that you’ll often see posters warning commuters of the dangers.

In that situation, the solution of installing slightly different waiting seats can be an effective initiative, contributing to increasing passenger safety and receiving many compliments.

Source: Soranews24