Samの英語チャンネル

Dangerous stunt by Japanese civil servant gets slammed online.

Japanese train stations are known for being clean and well-designed, efficiently moving millions of passengers from A to B each and every day.

With so many commuters using the system on a daily basis, a large number of stations have recently increased safety measures by installing special automated platform doors that only open after a train has stopped at the station. These doors (seen on either side of the platform at stations like the one below) prevent passengers from falling onto the tracks.

Unfortunately, these doors are yet to be installed at every station in Japan, which means idiots can pull stunts like this one below, which was captured on video recently and shared widely online.

奈良市職員　呆れる
#奈良市役所職員 https://t.co/LfZr9Tbcg7

—
jaja (@jaja05737821) January 20, 2020

The clip shows a man taking a running leap across a platform at Kintetsu Nara Station in Nara. After landing on the platform on the other side, he promptly falls off onto the tracks, getting up gingerly with a pained look on his face.

As he pulls himself up off the tracks, the person filming the video can be heard saying “One more time, one more time, one more time…one more time?

While this dangerous behaviour would be widely condemned in any situation, what’s making this particularly bad is the fact that this man works for the local government.

According to reports, the video was originally uploaded to Instagram, with the message “Is it okay for a Nara City Hall employee to be like this? Lol” in Japanese across it. While it was initially shared in a private group, it somehow made its way outside of that circle, leading it to be uploaded publicly on Twitter.

People who saw the video were less than impressed with the civil servant’s behaviour.

“This is so incredibly dangerous. He’s lucky nothing worse happened.”
“This could’ve caused a lot of trouble for a lot of other people.”
“This is dangerous, boring and pathetic.”
“Some railway companies have high-voltage lines along the rails so they can be very dangerous.”
“Idiot. This could’ve cost him his life.”

After the video had circulated widely online, Nara City Hall confirmed that this man worked for the Nara City Road Department’s Construction Division in a statement apologising for their staff member’s actions. The apology, which was published on Nara City’s website, began with:

“We apologise for causing concern to so many people over this exceedingly dangerous and totally unpermissable act.” 

They went on to mention that the male staff member recognises that his careless conduct has betrayed the confidence of Nara City and could lead to other people copying his behaviour, which would be incredibly dangerous. They say he must now work towards acting responsibly as a civil servant, and on 20 January he went to Kintetsu Nara Station with his supervisor to apologise for his conduct.

Nara City fails to mention whether or not the staff member will lose his job as a result, simply saying he will be strictly penalised for his actions. 

Source: Hachima Kikou, Net Lab
Featured image: Twitter/@jaja05737821
Insert image: Pakutaso
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Source: SORA NEWS24