Tokyo: It may have been the most profusely regretted 20 seconds in history.

Living up to Japan's reputation for being precise as well as contrite, a train company in Tokyo delivered a formal apology on Tuesday because one of its trains left a station just 20 seconds early.

In a country where conductors beg forgiveness when a train is even a minute late, the Metropolitan Intercity Railway Co posted an apology on its website for "the severe inconvenience imposed upon our customers" when the No. 5255 Tsukuba Express train left Minami-Nagareyama station in Chiba, a suburban prefecture east of Tokyo, at 9.44:20am, instead of 9.44:40am as scheduled.

According to the statement, the train arrived at Minami-Nagareyama on time, at precisely 9.43:40am. But when it came time to leave, the over-eager crew closed the doors prematurely and pulled out of the station ahead of schedule.