I was exchanging emails with my beloved brother the other day, and I am not sure how it came up, but I started talking about my swimming regime. Unfortunately after I re-read the email I realized that I had used the word 'hate' a lot. My brother identified this as lane rage. I admit it - I suffer from lane rage. I swim regularly at the local gym during my lunch time (one hour) - which means that after walking there, changing, etc, I have a maximum of 20 to 30 minutes to get my heart pumping. It is a three-lane pool - one for walking, one for stoppers and starters, and one for people that swim laps continuously (that's me). I won't go into details, but I do kind of hate it when slow swimmers don't let faster swimmers pass at the end of the pool (I promise that if someone swims faster than me, I let them pass - I hate being tailed anyway). I also hate getting hit in the pool - some people really do flail. It is here though, on pinku that I promise I will try and control my lane rage. For more information about lane rage, please read this article from the Sydney Morning Herald - it cracked me up for sure.
Apart from lane rage, Tokyo - a city of 12 million - breeds train rage. I have seen fights, screaming, lots of pushing, wailing, etc. It's not pretty. It's not humane. It's really miserable. Now I really know why Japanese people sleep on the train - anything is better than living with the reality that your on a miserable Tokyo train.
The last area in which I experience rage (sometimes) is elevator rage. I swear that I have never experienced the last two types of rage before coming to Tokyo. I work on the 20th floor of the building with 21 floors. My elevator skips the first 9 floors and stops at all the rest. Some petty little things that drive me insane are: when people from the 19th floor get on a elevator going up when they want to go down just to secure a place; when people don't press their floor immediately (thereby getting my hopes up that we won't have to stop on that floor); and when people who need to get off last, stand at the front thereby slowing down the elevator by having to get off and back on the elevator to let people off. Wow, just reading this makes me feel silly. How can these little things annoy me so much? It is much better since I started swimming during my lunchbreak - a great stress realease. I even started doing yoga poses (no, not the dog - the inconspicuous mountain pose) in the elevator to take my mind off the reality.
Well, that's enough about rage. Thank goodness I don't drive. Gotta get back to my relaxing Tokyo life!!!
Sure this looks like an innocent swimming pool in Korea - I wonder if they have lane rage there - I bet they do
Common Sense, Common Sense, Common Sense, Common Sense, Common Sense, Common Sense,
What we take for granted back in OZ just barely exists here in Tokyo. Barely....
Posted by: used books tokyo | May 20, 2004 at 08:22 PM
i used to get train rage on my daily commute from kyoto to osaka (10 yrs ago). when i needed a little space, i'd whip out my knitting needles. if i needed a lot of more space i'd blow my nose or eat. eating isn't a big deal anymore, but blowing your nose in public still grosses out a lot of japanese. it might even clear an elevator : )
Posted by: rae | May 20, 2004 at 09:58 PM
God Bless dear KHM
It's strange that there's so much rage all over the place and in such unusual places. As you would well know, I have experienced quite a myriad of these - not in the pool, but definitely in the elevator (something that I'm currently working on); the shopping line (don't get me started on the alleged express line); pedestrian rage; driver rage; restaurant rage; parent rage; sibling rage (of course, now non-existant); risotto rage; gym rage (I mean, how long can you stay on one piece of equipment); art gallery rage (oh, please, that's not art); and the one that I'm working on the most - Road Rage (currently under strict control - more or less).
I'm glad that you have acknowledged your rage and have put your rage on notice. It's going to pop up somewhere else I'm sure, but a little bit never hurt anyone, has it?
Love SMM
Posted by: Mock | May 21, 2004 at 10:44 AM
I am laughing so hard reading your post kat & everyone's comments!! I can empathise with lane rage - have experienced it since primary school/swimming club days, and even more recently at my local pool. Those nannas can get really nasty!
but nothing like beating some boy who thinks he's a bit of an 'ian thorpe' when in fact he's more of a fish out of water :)
Posted by: nicole | May 21, 2004 at 12:56 PM
Lane rage? Why are you swimming at a 3-lane pool health club? Are you in Tokyo?
There are several better options, depending on where you live. One step up from an health club is a normal city pool. You need to experiment to find out when the pool is not in heavy use. Another option is to use one of the several bubble-era olympic-class pool facilities, like Tatsumi, which tend to be rather deserted much of the time, and have a 50-meter deep pool, a 50-meter sub pool, and a 25-meter square diving pool. Another option is to join a swimming-only club, like Tokyo Swimming Center, one of the JSS schools, the Takaido club, Tokyo Dome, or any of several others. Finally, if you can find them, there are semi-ad hoc swimming groups that rent lanes (which are cheap, since there were so many pools built during the bubble).
I swam at TSC until recently (home of Kosuke Kitajima). Now I'm at a JSS school nearer to where I live. Last summer I swam twice a day a an outdoors 50-meter city pool, on occasion the only swimmer in the unlaned pool, with 4 lifeguards watching me.
You should join Japan Masters Swimming and do some meets, where you'll have the opportunity to meet people who might be able to give you some advice about swimming in your area. Also, the programs will list all the swimming schools and clubs whose members are participating in the meet.
I'm sure Australia has a lot of very nice pools, but one thing they don't have is the Japanese Ministry of Construction, which spent gazillions of yen of postal savings funds 15-20 years ago building unneeded public facilities. I would be truly surprised if the pools in Australia, swimming crazy though it be, were superior to or more numerous than those here in Tokyo.
Posted by: qepe | May 21, 2004 at 09:42 PM