TripZillaIn a move that may cause some to scratch their head and others to laud the country, a Japanese railway operator has issued a deep apology for a train that departed 20 seconds early.
Image credit: Rsa
Instead of moving at 9:44:20, the Tsukuba Express train which connects Tokyo to the northern suburbs left Minami Nagareyama Station at 9:44:40 on 14 Nov.
Consequently, the Tsukuba Express company decided to officially apologise for causing “tremendous nuisance to customers” – even though no complaints were filed.
That’s right, in a world where train delays and breakdowns are commonplace, this company is sorry for being 20 precious seconds too early. We know that Japan is famous for its politeness and punctuality, but isn’t this a little extreme?
According to the company, the 20-second difference could trigger a snowball effect for the few people who missed the train. Even though the next one would arrive in four minutes, the short delay could cause more missed transfers and so on.
