I took this excerpt from an article in the Yomiuri, the full article
is at http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/newse/20010630wo35.htm
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Mobile phones
It has been pointed out that electromagnetic waves emitted from mobile
phones could cause pacemakers to malfunction. A 54-year-old man from
Tokyo who wears such a device complained about people using mobile phones
on the trains. A 21-year-old university student from Yokohama saw an old
man on a train ask a young man to stop making a phone call. "Trains
should be made off- limits (for phones)," he suggested.
Most people think that it's young people who tend to use phones on
trains, but a 32-year-old company employee from Yokohama thinks
otherwise. "It's middle-aged men who use phones on trains. Young
people use e-mail. When they are asked to stop (e-mailing), they
just go crazy," he wrote.
"I saw a young person doing e-mail for 20 minutes," a 62-year-old man
from Kanagawa Prefecture wrote. "Although the phone didn't make any noise,
it must have been switched on the whole time."
Some people consider e-mailing on trains acceptable. A Tokyo high school
girl saw a woman who was asked to stop e-mailing on a train. She wrote:
"I couldn't understand why she had to be told off. Is e-mailing on trains
such a bad thing?"
People might change their ideas about the use of phones on trains if they
knew it could put people's lives at risk, "as in the event of planes taking
off and landing," a 52-year-old company employee from Yokohama wrote.
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I usually keep an eye out for people using phones on the train and at
least on my line, I'd say an average of 25% fondle it at some point, with
about 15% emailing and doing the odd bit of surfing. Later at night, I'd
say the percentage goes up to about 20% stuck in their phones on the
trains and on the platforms. I usually get on the odd numbered carraiges
where you're allowed to have the phone on, but asked to refrain from talking
on it. I've seen one guy get quite angry and start shouting at another guy
who answered his phone on the train. I don't mind that too much, but
what I didn't care to see was an old couple making out on the train...
I tell you, times are changing...
Cheers,
Tom.
--
Thomas O'Dowd. - Nooping - http://nooper.com
tom_at_nooper.com - Testing - http://nooper.co.jp/labs
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Received on Sat Jun 30 13:42:25 2001