"The other day, this reporter encountered an unfamiliar sight while aboard his commuter train. An elderly man, upon boarding at a certain station, pulled open a folding chair and gingerly sat down."

Thus begins an article in J-Cast News (Oct 28) on the subject of how to be assured of getting a seat on the train.

The reporter tapped out a few tweets on Twitter and performed some searches, the result of which was to discover that the practice of bringing along one's own seat in Japan is by no means rare. Actually, it appears that there's no particular problem in carrying a folding seat aboard a train; rather, the problem that arises is whether or not one can put it to use.

The elderly gent in question happened to be taking one of the JR commuter lines in Kanto, slightly after the end of the rush hour. Quite a few passengers were standing, but there were open spaces that would accommodate the chair in the aisle or near the doors. The chair the man unfolded stood about 30 centimeters high and as he sat down he steadied himself with his cane.

The other passengers glanced at him, but no one offered him their seat. The gentleman did not approach the courtesy seats reserved for elderly and handicapped. After several minutes, however, a seat did open up nearby, and at that point he stood up, folded his chair and moved to the seat. The reporter thought he gave the impression of being quite practiced at such maneuvers.

"I'd seen people sitting atop their rucksack or suitcase on trains, but I wonder how many people are in the habit of carrying their own chairs with them," the reporter wondered, tweeting messages to that effect.

Several responses arrived, including one who claimed to have seen a female office worker so seated, looking cool and composed, on the Marunouchi subway line during a period of extreme crowding. She was, the sender wrote, using a folding chair with a frame made of metal pipes. Quite a few varieties of folding seats exist, including some designed for camping.

The question inevitably arises: What are the railway companies' policies toward passengers bringing their own seats?

"As long as the dimensions are within permissible limits for hand baggage, there's no problem to carry one aboard," replied a spokesperson for the East Japan Railway Company.

Those dimensions are, by the way, up to two items with a combined width and height measuring 250 centimeters, or a maximum length of 2 meters, with a weight of 30 kilograms. Dangerous items or things giving off an unpleasant smell are prohibited. So if the chair clears these restrictions, it can be brought aboard.

But what about actually sitting on it?

"A station worker or conductor will inform the person if he believes it to be dangerous, both while aboard the train and on the platform," came the reply.

The reporter received a similar reply from the Tokyo Metro. "There is no official rule about using a chair, but we would expect the person to take precautions so as not to annoy other passengers."

The elderly gent who inspired this article did not appear to be bothering anyone, but if people use them during periods of peak crowding, the possibility occurred to him that a chair might tip over on a curve, or send the seated person sprawling should the driver be forced to apply the emergency brake, in which case it could be dangerous both for the chair user and nearby passengers.

The solution, it would seem lies in creative thinking. Perhaps someone could devise a chair designed specifically for train use, with suction cups on the bottom?

© Japan Today