Originally Posted by Pickles
That's because if you miss the train by one minute, your train is gone! This is Japan, where things both run on time and your rights are narrowly specified. You bought a ticket for a specific train at a specific time! What do you think, that you can just waltz in on any train at your convenience, bringing meiwaku to everybody else? Bad person! You can't do that on a plane, why could you do that on a train?
Given that, your best bet is probably just to get on the next train, sit on an unoccupied seat, and hope for the best. Train conductors will sometimes just let you "ride", especially if you play clueless gaijin. That's the flip side of Japan. In the US, you'd probably be arrested for "security reasons" since you aren't supposed to be there, hence you must have evil intent.
How true! I must say you have a thorough understanding of the Japanese mentality.
My cousin went to St. Joseph's in the 1950s. When his parents wondered why he always had so much money, the maid followed him one morning as he took the bus to school. She observed him getting on the bus but, unlike the other children, didn't pay the driver. When she asked the driver why he didn't collect from my cousin, he raised his hands and told her the kid is an American, probably can't speak Japanese and he doesn't want to bother with communicating with an English-speaking 7-year old that he has to pay 10 yen to ride the bus.