The New York Subway

I cannot get over how clean the subways are in Japan compared to the ones in New York. Also the seats are comfortable with cushions while the ones in New York are hard and cold as though they are made of metal. Also when the trains are not crowded then it is cold? Sometimes I feel as though there is no heating in the compartments.

To make a long story short, NY subways are not comfortable and I find them depressing.

When I told my friend about the difference between NY subways and the ones in Tokyo, she said that it is because the Americans are not polite when it comes to public facilities while the Japanese are. Apparently the reason why they do not make the seats comfortable is because Americans will damage them!

That might explain the reason for the seats in the NY subway but I don’t understand why a city with so much wealth as New York would leave the subway in such as depressing state.

To make matters worse, it is so dark and dingy. Why is it so difficult to install better lighting and paint and renovate the walls so it becomes more pleasant?

Some of the stations have artists design the walls with colorful ceramics and I suppose I can’t complain that they are not making any effort. I didn’t realize how fortunate we are in Japan to have such clean, comfortable and reliable public transport.

New York’s status as perhaps the most important financial/cultural capital of the world leaves it with very little excuse to keep brushing this facet of its reality under the garb of “I Heart NY (as it is)” and giving people such as myself a reason to lament it.