
Why Japan’s Rail Workers Point at Things - Hooke
http://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/pointing-and-calling-japan-trains
======
jakub_g
I noticed the problem on myself on several occasions and kind of invented the
same solution.

For example, sometimes I would take a medicament mechanically while doing
something else and just a few minutes later, forget if I took it or not.
Solution: say loud to myself "I'm taking a pill".

Another: sometimes I'd lend some amount money to a colleague, and a few weeks
later I'd have a hard time figuring whether they gave it back, and they too.
Solution: I tell them to hit me (or do some other stupid thing) when they give
the money back, so we both remember.

Going even further, sometimes I have to set a reminder to myself like "take an
umbrella when leaving tomorrow morning because it's gonna be raining". Putting
umbrella close to the exit, or doing a phone reminder do not always work,
particularly when I'm in a hurry. One thing that works is doing some notable
physical disruption in the environment, like putting a can of tomato sauce,
_upside-down_ , close to the exit.

~~~
ianamartin
Ah, yes. The old upside-down-tomato-sauce-can-next-to-the-door-to-remember-my-
umbrella trick.

That's always been a classic.

The first couple of times I tried it, it didn't work very well. I was trying
to leave in the morning, and I tripped over the can, and I was all, "Who the
fuck put a can of tomatoes in front of the door?" And I kicked it out of the
way and left without my umbrella.

Then I realized I wasn't going deep enough. You have to open the can of
tomatoes and put the open top on the floor. You have to do it fast or it
spills.

The next morning, I tripped over the can and knocked it over. And now there
was slippery tomatoes all over my floor in front of my door. So of course I
slipped in it and fell down, hurting my elbow and head more than I wanted to
at that time of the morning.

So at this point, I decided that I could just work from home. After I cleaned
up the upside down tomatoes.

The moral of the story is that, no, I didn't remember the umbrella at all.
But! I no longer needed it.

~~~
ianamartin
Wow. This is by far my most highly rated post on hacker news.

I want to clarify that this is utter bullshit, and that I don't actually do
this. Well, most of this. I have easier ways of working from home. Like, I put
an event on my boss's calendar that says I'm working from home.

And I hate umbrellas. I fucking hate them. If you live in New York City and
you use an umbrella, I want you to go home and die right now.

You have no idea of the space that you are taking up with those things. You
have no respect for your fellow humans. I hate you. And I don't want to live
in this world with you.

Get a little wet. Don't stab me in the eyeball with your stupid, incompetent
umbrella that you aren't paying attention to.

I have a little note next to my door that says: don't take the umbrella--It's
a jackass thing to do.

Guess what happens. I never take the umbrella. The tomatoes thing was a joke,
for those of you who missed it.

~~~
IIAOPSW
Wow. An umbrella fundamentalist. Is there a law of the internet that for every
trivial thing you can find someone with absurdly strong opinions leaving
comments about it?

~~~
Groxx
> _Is there a law of the internet that for every trivial thing you can find
> someone with absurdly strong opinions leaving comments about it?_

There has to be, it's one of the few constants of the internet.

That said: you merely have to experience umbrellas in a high-density
environment a couple times before those opinions are the only rational
response. Umbrellas are hostile to everyone within reach. (corollary: whenever
that number remains at zero, they're perfectly fine)

~~~
PSeitz
But it does work in Tokyo, maybe it's the people

~~~
ianamartin
I'm specifically talking about NYC.

It's definitely the people.

------
braythwayt
If you don’t point to the knot on your harness when calling out that you are
tied in, and we don’t audibly call out “On belay... belay on” to each other,
we aren’t climbing together.

These exact same rituals have been developed for climbing because everyone,
experienced, and inexperienced, can make mistakes.

The greatest climber of her generation (of any gender!), Lynn Hill, opens her
autobiography with the story of how she was distracted while tying in, and
nobody thought to check her, because, well, she’s LYNN HILL.

She climbed 75’ up an easy (for her) warmup climb, called for tension on the
rope, sat back, and fell the entire distance to the ground. She was very lucky
to survive.

~~~
dongslol
Does that say 75 _feet?_ How on earth do you survive that?

~~~
mjevans
By landing correctly; mostly not on your head, and not at a bad angle for the
spine.

Soft ground beneath also helps.

~~~
yorwba
What is a bad angle for the spine? I don't usually fall large distances, but
something like this seems useful to know, just in case.

~~~
wapz
I've done some bouldering and although I don't know what the actual best is,
you don't want to land directly on your back or front (flat) and you never
want to land on your head of course. I learned to try falling with legs
slightly bent in a mostly upright position. Someone with more experience can
give you better info though.

------
prashnts
Slightly off topic but this practice of talking-out-loud to get yourself doing
stuff is also beneficial to people with executive dysfunction. If your
executive function is impaired you generally don't have the "internal
monologue" or the voice in your head. This makes seemingly simpler things like
taking a shower, driving, or eating, very difficult! I'd often "forget" to
eat, simply because I could not get myself to start.

I found that it helps to announce (not necessarily loud) what I am to do, and
the steps to do so. ("Okay we're going to get up and walk to the kitchen.",
"We're walking now")

Though for some reason I use plural pronouns for myself -- we, us etc. Does
somebody else do that too? :)

~~~
Maakuth
This technique is also useful for software development, and is referred to as
rubber duck debugging
([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rubber_duck_debugging](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rubber_duck_debugging)).
Verbalizing your problem lends you another point of view to your thinking and
often allows you to discover the problem yourself.

~~~
allannienhuis
Writing detailed commit notes can be useful in the same way. I have backed out
of a commit during the write up more times than I would like to admit because
I realized that I hadn't covered some edge case or I completely forgot about
something (like the effect of the change on a report or other sub-system).
Writing things out in a way that someone else can understand forces you to re-
think through the task in different ways.

~~~
macintux
I've read that adding the "BUGS" section to man pages in the early days of
UNIX had a similar impact. The developers got so embarrassed by the content
that they decided to fix the bugs instead.

~~~
Drdrdrq
It is similar with the product we are developing. When I need to explain to
the user how some feature is used, I often end up redesigning said feature so
that explaining should not be needed. Makes for a much better UX. :)

------
DonHopkins
I have a strict rule that I must touch my keys before closing the front door,
because I discovered the keys in my memory don't open the door as well as the
keys in my pocket.

~~~
saulrh
Same. I have a "keys-wallet-phone-pad" routine in which I make sure my pockets
contain all of: my keys, my wallet, my cell phone, and the 7-inch tablet that
I carry everywhere. I've gotten into the habit of doing it every time I get up
if I'm not at home or at my desk at work.

~~~
kalleboo
I used to have a doormat that said "mobile phone, keys, wallet" (in Swedish)
[https://s-media-cache-
ak0.pinimg.com/originals/7f/58/df/7f58...](https://s-media-cache-
ak0.pinimg.com/originals/7f/58/df/7f58df33259cf51ca28c60e2b566e286.jpg)

These days I just tap my pockets. I freak out if I do that check when I happen
to be holding onto my phone or keys

~~~
tomcam
I use this technique too. Very, very effective. Unfortunately I often cary a
pocket radio, which I unconsciously note as either wallet or phone. Have
started to use its clip to attach it to my shirt.

------
t0mas88
This also applies to aviation. While pilots execute the same checklist several
times each day, year after year, it is still required to verbally call the
items on the list. It feels a bit strange doing it when you're sitting in a
cockpit alone, but it does really improve accuracy and ensures you're
following the same procedure every time whether there is a co-pilot,
instructor or nobody sitting in the other seat.

I've never learned actually pointing at the instruments, but I can imagine it
helps to focus for example very clearly on doing a check of a specific
instrument instead of just saying "checked" out of habit. The problem of
course is that you need your hands for other things at the same time, so
pointing would be unsafe to do at the controls of a plane.

~~~
base698
My wife got yelled at by an instructor today for verbalizing "airspeed alive".
Something she does as she rotates to determine if she wants to abort before
she's committed.

After she relayed the story I mentioned this thread and we both decided the
guy was nuts.

------
retreatguru
When debugging in production environments (which is always a bad idea) I use a
technique where I always work together with a coworker and before I'm about to
do something destructive I say out loud what I'm going to do and ask for
agreement that I should continue. I started this after reading what happened
at Gitlab a month ago.

~~~
ljosa
I do that on Slack—sometimes with a coworker keenly following along, and
sometimes when I'm the only one awake.

~~~
retreatguru
That is a good idea: to do it in Slack even if no one is there. Forces you to
slow down and be conscious of what you are doing.

------
euske
I think that the root of this goes back all the way to Zen-type of thinking.
In Zen, it's often taught that mind is elusive/delusive and action matters.
"Mindlessness (mu-shin)" is often thought of the best way of carrying tasks,
and I see a similar principle in many traditional martial arts/craftsmanship;
a new learner should just do certain tasks without thinking/questioning, and
eventually their muscle memory will learn it. It's conceivable that people
applied the same principle for safety.

I also think that this illustrates the difference between the Western
religions and Japanese (or Asian) religions. Western religions are mostly
declarative; you need to believe such and such statements. Whereas Japanese
religions are procedural, i.e. doing rituals is more important than believing.

~~~
cm2187
It does sound very similar to plane checklists where the pilot has to call
every item verbally.

~~~
dpatriarche
Yes, you're right! My father was an Air Force pilot and then flew a private
plane into his 60's. for 40 years he religiously followed the checklists,
calling out and pointing to the relevant part of the plane for each item on
the list: "windows and doors, check; wing flaps set for takeoff; seats
latched; seat belts locked; etc."

[http://www.mooneyland.com/wp-
content/uploads/2012/06/Mooney_...](http://www.mooneyland.com/wp-
content/uploads/2012/06/Mooney_M20C_Checklist.pdf)

I work on medical software now. It's kind of a well known story now how
doctors are resistant to using checklists, like pilots do, even though it has
been proven in studies to reduce medical errors.

It's an interesting idea that maybe we could employ a form of point-and-call
checklist system in software development or operations.

~~~
knob
> It's an interesting idea that maybe we could employ a form of point-and-call
> checklist system in software development or operations.

Maybe copy/pasting. Highlight part of the code, copy. Go to gedit (or whatev)
and paste. Doing this while "calling it".

~~~
omgam
Collaborative general purpose editors nowadays show one user's text selection
to other users, so this is straightforward to implement.

------
slapshot
The US Navy uses much of this as well. For example, here's an aircraft carrier
launch from inside the "bubble" (the control area that actually triggers the
steam catapult). The officer repeats the mantra aloud for each aircraft and
points at the people he's checking. If you watch a similar video taken above
deck you can see each responsible person point at the system they are
monitoring before giving the thumb's up.

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMwrMDd2gUE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMwrMDd2gUE)

The comments have an explanation of each phrase in the mantra (e.g., "104 set
match" refers to a steam power of 104 (units unclear) and that it matches the
board for cross-checking).

~~~
nowarninglabel
More on the Navy usage can be found in David Marquet's book: "Turn the Ship
Around" about his time improving training / operations on a submarine he
commanded. Every one had to announce their intention to do an action before
actually doing it, this gave others the chance to identify when someone was
going to take an incorrect action before it happened.

It's a really great, short read that I'd highly recommend.

------
mavdi
Wow this is fascinating. Clockwork, like everything else in Japan. I first
noticed this when in Kyoto. The driver would point at the schedule,
speedometer, sensors and all else. I found it slightly odd but made a mental
note to google it later, which I eventually forgot.

~~~
suls
I think the "clockwork" reference is somewhat overrated. Local trains are
often late due to wind or snow ..

~~~
lovemenot
Do you live in Hokkaido? Or maybe on a really local branch? I live in Tokyo,
take around four trains a day on many different lines and that is just not the
case here.

~~~
kalleboo
My experience with Tokyo (I only visit about once a year, live in Kyushu) is
the trains there are always off-schedule due to "accidents" :/

------
erpellan
I do this (subvocally) when hopping between dev and prod. "I'm looking at
production. I'm checking this query is the one I think it is. I'm running it
now. I'm closing production."

~~~
sunwooz
I make the same mistakes when looking at code from two different but similar
projects.

------
marklyon
There is a similar situation in NYC [0].

[0]
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i9jIsxQNz0M](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i9jIsxQNz0M)

~~~
jaxbot
It's more than just paying attention: if the conductor can line their finger
up with the zebra board for their train, they've guaranteed that the train is
completely within the station. Opening the doors where there is no platform is
one of the few fireable offenses (others include using a phone on the job).
The zebra boards have the train model written on them -- in this case, R160
[1]. While it would be easier for the driver to just stop the train at the
very end of the platform, this would be pretty inconvenient for passengers on
the end of the platform when a shorter train rolls in.

[1]:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R160_(New_York_City_Subway_car...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R160_\(New_York_City_Subway_car\))

~~~
tutufan
Having the driver stop at the end of the platform wouldn't really be a
substitute. What counts is that the conductor in the middle of the train
physically observes that the train's registration is correct before they open
the doors. (Drivers never open the doors.)

------
orblivion
This is the same as they do for climbing. "on belay" and so forth. I think
it's also like trigger discipline for firearms, in the broader sense of
developing habits that make accidents less likely.

------
WalterBright
It's related to the checklist system used by pilots, which is incredibly
effective at reducing mistakes.

The Samurai sword making system is also very ritualized, which enables the
complex procedure to be memorized and carried out without mistakes.

Other systems of reducing mistakes are making things rhyme, which adds a bit
of redundancy not unlike error-correcting digital codes. Double-entry
bookkeeping is another scheme.

------
civilian
My dad's side of the family are a bunch of sailors, and there's a lot of
verbal clues you give to other people on the boat when you're sailing. "Ready
about" means we're about to tack.

My uncle was sailing a multi-day solo race, and he felt like he was just
getting scattered. He started saying everything he would have said outloud--
saying "ready about" to no one, ordering himself to raise the spinnaker. He
said everything ran much more smoothly once he started doing that. :D

------
mintplant
Six Flags Magic Mountain does this before launching a roller coaster. An
operator announces "Visual Scan", points their hand at one end of the cars,
and sweeps it along to the other.

~~~
mturmon
You can see pool lifeguards do the same visual scan with pointing. Their gaze
sweeps over the pool in a pattern, following their pointing finger. It seems
effective in making them look at individual swimmers instead of just looking
at an area of the pool in general.

------
iand675
I actually just paid real attention to this pointing technique on my way home
today for the first time. This isn't just a puff piece for a technique that
only a few workers do.

------
a_bonobo
I've taken the bus often and the driver always announces when he breaks,
accelerates, and takes curves, is this for the same reason?

People have explained to me that the driver announces everything so that
standing passengers don't fall over, but I'm skeptical.

~~~
masklinn
> People have explained to me that the driver announces everything so that
> standing passengers don't fall over, but I'm skeptical.

That makes sense actually, especially if many passengers are elderly. Around
here the bus drivers don't announce what they do, but they take off and brake
significantly less abruptly when they have unseated elderly passengers (either
looking/reaching for a seat or standing to get out).

------
hkmurakami
We had the same sort of routine as this as factory workers in Japan so that we
wouldn't forget to check/do soemthing. These explicit motions help you hit all
the necessary components each time when working with hundreds of repetitions a
day.

~~~
patio11
It was also doctrine for emergency procedures and anything at a heightened
level of care as an engineer at a company (in hkmurakami's neck of the woods,
at a company in a region where a certain large automobile manufacturer sets a
lot of the engineering culture).

~~~
hkmurakami
"Xyz Yoshi!" Right? ;)

(Yoshi = good/clear)

~~~
patio11
I remember a lot more 作動開始/作動確認！ than よし but it has been a while.

~~~
hkmurakami
Ohh Kakunin! Brings me back!

------
koantify
There are quite a few comments here on the use of checklists. Dr. Atul Gawande
wrote at length about their usefulness in "The Checklist Manifesto".

We've released an iPhone app, Koantify Checklists:

[https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/koantify-
checklists/id115800...](https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/koantify-
checklists/id1158001939?ls=1&mt=8)).

It's a voice responsive app (i.e., Siri-like) for creating, maintaining,
using, and sharing checklists.

(Based on the post we're commenting on, I guess our next step would be to
recognize gestures like pointing...)

The app steps you through tasks by voice or text, and responds to your voice
commands (it tries to provide optional "hands-free" operation as much as
possible).

When you complete your checklist, the app optionally emails you (or a list of
people) a detailed record of completion of the checklist, showing steps you
completed, skipped, or possibly had to repeat.

For organizations, it's easy to export/import checklists. You can distribute
by email, via iCloud, or you can download checklists from web links. For
training, use of a checklist provides important reminders of how things should
be done.

Feedback, comments, suggestions are most welcome.

------
renegadesensei
Been living in Japan for a while now and I've noticed this too. I always
admired it. It suggested a high level of conscientiousness. Made me feel safer
on public transit. Interesting to learn of the real world benefit of these
type of mnemonic tricks. I do some things like this when doing operational
work as a devops engineer. Helps me avoid fat finger mistakes. I also do the
classic, "wallet, phone, keys" check whenever I leave the house.

~~~
toast76
My father used to (and probably still does) call out "spectacles, testicles,
wallet and watch" before leaving the house.

~~~
mturmon
Testicles == zip your fly?

------
innocentoldguy
I've lived in Japan off and on for a number of years. "Pointing and shouting,"
and other similar gestures, are used all over the place. I typically heard it
referred to as "yubisashi kakunin," which basically means "confirm by pointing
with your finger." I've seen elevator attendants do it when operating the
buttons, and cashiers will verbalize the counting of change, and hand it back
in a very animated way, which I believe is the same sort of thing.

Where I live, I think a company would have to really work to get their
employees to do it, but in Japan, it seems to have become a part of the
culture. My wife, who is from Japan, does it while she's cooking to make sure
she hasn't left anything out.

------
welanes
Very interesting! The word 'embarrassing' comes up a lot, but I wonder why
this would be perceived as embarrassing compared to, say, the ritual bowing to
empty carriages that takes place on Japanese trains. Or simply compared to the
gesturing that takes place in other professions like the construction
industry.

Without knowing the psychology behind it, a good guess would be that it
derives from the sense that observers may not understand one's intent in
pointing, and could prob be alleviated by using some kind of beacon like those
used by aircraft marshallers.

~~~
FabHK
Good point. If it's seen as professionals doing their job, then it ceases to
be embarrassing. In turn, you can then dismiss people that giggle about it as
ignorant fools and, well, ignore them.

When I watch a referee in a sport I don't know, the
shouting/pointing/gesticulating seems funny, but nobody would consider the
referee's job to be embarrassing.

------
vkatluri
In Sanskrit, there's a poem about hand gestures:

"Yato hasta stato drishti"..."Where the hand is, the eyes follow"

"Yato drishti stato manaha"..."Where the eyes go, the mind follows"

"Yato manaha stato bhava"..."Where the mind is, there is the feeling"

"Yato bhava stato rasa"..."Where the feeling is, there is mood"

------
ethank
In aviation there are similar methods of doing checklists:

Say - Do: pilot not flying says the task, pilot flying verifies verbally after
doing it.

Challenge - Response: challenge the check list, verbally respond (do the
action)

Flow-Confirm: Do all required actions then verbally confirm.

In any case, the verbal and physical confirmation is needed to move on in the
checklist.

When flying solo I do "Say-Do"

------
iask
This is similar to a yoga in the Hindu religion. I read about this a while
back. When performing this yoga, you call out every action silently or
quietly. So, for example, when picking up your cup of coffee..."I am going to
pick up this coffee", then.."I picked up the coffee".

I have to go look this up again.

~~~
pmirji
Yoga in itself is religion. Can be done irrespective of one being Hindu or not

~~~
lovemenot
Yoga is just a practice in itself. One need not subscribe to other
practitioners' beliefs.

------
edsheeran
I consider the article's title to be clickbaity. The fact of the story is why
the workers point at things and there's an interesting explanation behind it.
Saying they can't stop, however, isn't a true statement and would have been
much better if they stated the real affirmative.

~~~
jakub_g
I think it's playing on a meme of "Kim Jong Il looking at things" and similar.

------
obstinate
God that's cool. I have a habit that seems like a variant of this. Every
change I write has a description of how it's tested. Sometimes that can be as
brief as "unittests," but for riskier changes I sometimes write several
paragraphs.

------
donatj
I was in Japan eight years ago and saw this but never understood what was
going on. I have a video of a conductor pointing over and over and over again
I made a gif out of. I am enthused to know what was going on.

------
blauditore
Reminds me of "talk to your rubber duck"...

------
omegant
I realize that I've been doing it naturally (although not all the time) when
reading check lists in the cockpit (I'm A-340-330 pilot). I'll do it more
consciously from now on.

------
rootusrootus
That's very interesting. I do it myself, but not because I had any idea it
really worked, it's just habit. When I am hitching up our trailer and getting
ready to set out on a road trip, I walk around it pointing at things and
calling them out loud to myself -- hitch pins, safety pins, sway bars, various
things that have to be stowed, etc. Now I can tell my wife it's not because
I'm senile, but because it works :)

------
amyjess
So, in Japan there's a superhero franchise on television called _Super Sentai_
(you might know it as where _Power Rangers_ gets their source footage from).
Each year, they do a different _Super Sentai_ series with its own distinct
theme. Well, in 2014, they did a train-themed series called _ToQger_ ( _ToQ_
being a cutesy spelling of _Tokkyū_ , meaning "express train"). The show is
absolutely _full_ of references to everything to do with trains; the theme is
present everywhere.

Pre-battle poses are tradition in _Super Sentai_ , and _ToQger_ was no
exception. Specifically, the pose ends with the team's leader dramatically
pointing while calling _shuppatsu shinkō_ , which basically means "all
aboard!".

I always wondered what the pointing was for, and now I know.

You can see the pose here:
[http://i.imgur.com/0DugYRe.png](http://i.imgur.com/0DugYRe.png)

Edit: And when they combine their mecha together, they point and call as each
of their vehicles link up:
[http://i.imgur.com/Lct4XQl.png](http://i.imgur.com/Lct4XQl.png)

------
Osiris
I listened to a podcast about police doing something similar. When two
officers we're approaching a situation way office would call or multiple times
before taking an action. For example, "TASER! TASER! TASER!". this helps the
other officer from mistaking the sound of the taser firing for a firearm.

------
ThePhysicist
MTA train conductors need to do something similar in the New York metro, as
there is a striped black-white sign they need to point to at each stop (it
gets recorded on camera):

[http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/4178532](http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/4178532)

~~~
oconnor663
It's in the article :)

------
coldcode
It makes a lot of sense, you are performing a physical act, a visual act and a
verbal act together, all reinforcing each other. Once it becomes an ingrained
habit, anything that doesn't match the common result sticks out. I presume
overcoming your fear of looking stupid is the hardest part.

------
martytheartiste

          If your memory is going bye bye......and you want it to come back! 1st. Go on YouTube and watch these videos there about 30 or more. Each video covers a specific topic. In one episode the demonstrated how eating berries improves your short term memory. Look for.....BBC The Truth About Food....

2nd. Eat healthy and exercise. 3\. Step away from the TV/Computer/ Cell Phone
about 2 - 3 hours before bed. The light from these electronic devices will
keep you awake! 4\. Try to get 7-8 hours sleep daily. 7-8 hours?.....Imagine
your brain to be like your workshop. When you wake up in the morning(after a
great nights sleep) its nice and clean. Everything is accessible and easy to
find. By the end of the day the place is a mess. Now if you leave the place a
mess....your brain stays cluttered up. Then when you go to sleep.....and wake
up the next day.....you have a hard time getting right to work because you
have to search for everything! When you get a great nights sleep.....7-8
hours.....your brain gets flushed by chemicals that clear out all the clutter.
Think defragging a hard drive. When a hard drive is not defragged it slows the
computer down. When you get poor sleep your brain starts getting overloaded
with clutter...and in time that clutter compresses and starts affecting your
memory. 5\. There is a great book called The 150 Healthiest foods on earth.
You should go look it up and see what it says about blueberries. Blueberries
are the only food known (as far as I know-from this book) to grow new neurons
in our brains. 6.I've worked crazy hours for almost 10 years traveling. Each
day was different. I had no set hours and slept when I wasn't working. I put
on quite a bit of weight and ate to sleep and ate to stay awake. I averaged
4-5 hours of inferior sleep that affected my memory. I also ate crappy food
because I was traveling all of the time. Now that I am home and eat healthy I
find that eating oatmeal and honey 2-3 hours before sleep helps me fall asleep
easily and I average about 7 hours of quality sleep per night. I also eat a
lot less, exercise and eat blackberries and blueberries every morning.

------
rco8786
Next time your on the NYC subway watch for the conductor as the train comes to
a stop. They always point out the window at a marker that helps them know
where to stop the train. Seems to be a very minimal version of what this
article is taking about. But I always get a kick out of it.

~~~
ggambetta
_A notable exception is New York City’s MTA subway system, whose conductors
have used a modified point-only system since 1996 after then Chief
Transportation Officer Nathaniel Ford was fascinated by the point-and-call
system during a business trip to Japan. In the MTA’s case, conductors point to
a fixed black-and-white “zebra board” to confirm a stopped train is correctly
located along the platform._

 _According to MTA spokeswoman Amanda Kwan, conductors were quick to adapt to
the new system, and within two years of implementation, incidents of
incorrectly berthed subways fell 57 percent._

------
tzs
Suppose you've gotten used to doing this and have the pointing and speaking
sequence and associated actions such as reading gauges thoroughly memorized.

If at that point you replaced actually pointing and speaking with just
visualizing and audiolizing [1] that you are pointing and speaking,
respectively, would you retain the performance improvements?

[1] There does not seem to be a widely accepted word for the audio equivalent
of visualizing. Some discussion:
[http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/1635/visualized-e...](http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/1635/visualized-
equivalent-adjective-for-audio)

~~~
wycx
Vocalise?

------
cheez
I've been playing this "brain training" game called Peak and one of the tasks
is to memorize the names of some places that I don't even think actually
exist. I struggled to remember it until I started mentally writing out each
name. My finger, even though it wasn't moving, felt each word as it was
written. I went from recalling approximately 80% to almost 100% of (so far) 9
places to remember.

It totally increases your consciousness and once you actually realize what's
happening, you want to be that present everywhere. Unfortunately, I am a
machine :(

------
mrschwabe
In Saitama I saw an old guy on a pedal bike (not a train) who did this the
other day!

In fact, I made a note specifically to ask a Nihon friend just what the hell
he was doing (so I'll just ask HN instead)...

I understand stopping at an intersection and looking both ways. But making a
specific pointing gesture and verbally calling out while doing it I thought
was just a bit odd. Particularly cause he was the only person at this quiet
little 4 way (no lights) stop. Sounded like he said "hayougush... hayougush".

Retired train conductor?

~~~
inetknght
On the other hand, if you're looking directly at a vehicle and _pointing_ at
the vehicle, you're more likely to actually _interact_ with the driver of the
vehicle if they're alert. If they point back, you know they see you. If they
don't, did they truly see you or do you just assume they did? Now you're more
alert than you were before.

~~~
jaxbot
If I'm entering an intersection and there's a driver that I suspect hasn't
noticed me and may take a turn, I'll make eye contact and point, then signal a
full hand for 'stop'. Seems to work.

------
ddingus
I do this sometimes when I'm really in the zone. Back in the 90s, I was in
manufacturing, both making things and planning, programming.

When I had not used a given machine or process for a while, point and step
check just came as part of entering and maintaining flow.

Exploiting this seems obvious in retrospect, like most good, basic helpers
are.

Nice. Love the ethic. Take care of the people, run it on time. It's good to
know somewhere the little stuff does matter.

------
doglet
As a hockey player, I never understood why referees would point to each goal,
calling out each goalie's existence before the game. This helps explain it.

------
nommm-nommm
This helps a lot when coding too! Specifically when debugging. I am lucky
enough to have my own office so I can do it without disturbing others.

------
yunesj
> Japan’s rail system has a well-deserved reputation for being among the very
> best in the world.

While "pointing" might contribute to its reputation, they should give credit
to being accountable to market forces! In addition to the extensive "private
railway" network, JNR was privatized in 1987.

------
martytheartiste
Ive been working on a new design.....and would like to know if there is
anything that I may have missed in my re design besides the chancing of poking
someone or poking there eye out.

And if you don't use an umbrella! Do you wear a raincoat? Or do you prefer
getting soaked!

------
geofffox
It's a little late in the game to get this seen, but they do this in the NYC
subways too. It made for a great video!

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i9jIsxQNz0M](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i9jIsxQNz0M)

~~~
frik
Thanks for the link.

Btw. one of the subway drivers explains in the YT comments that NYC had this
gesture first, Japan copied it in the mid 1990s.

    
    
      Conductors point at the board because it is required by TA 
      rule. This idea was adapted by the Japanese subway in the 
      mid 90's. We point because if the window of your cab is 
      somewhere within limits of that board, it means the Train 
      operator, the one who actually moves the train, has stopped 
      at his/her mark for the correct number of cars the train 
      has. We also have to point because supervision does move 
      around in the field and yes they actually WATCH us to make 
      sure we comply with this rule. If we don't, well then its 
      not going to be a good day at work...﻿

~~~
URSpider94
I doubt that is true. Per the article, it goes back to the Meiji dynasty in
Japan, which ended in 1912.

------
cjrp
Interesting, you see a similar action (I believe for the same reason) in
cockpits
[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MEX0ZYDziiU&t=13s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MEX0ZYDziiU&t=13s)].

~~~
FabHK
I was also struck with the similarity to procedures in aviation. During the
checklist you frequently call out the item (aloud), and then check it while
either pointing at it or touching it.

This also reduces the temptation to rush and just say "check" and assume it's
ok - most of the time it is ok, of course, but the point is to actually look
and check and make sure. If you do all the "work" of actually finding the
control and touching it, you might as well look and check that it is set as
expected.

As a further side effect, this also re-inforces "muscle memory": you don't
need the alternate air valve or the fuel shutoff valve very often - but if you
actually touch it (and even open/close it) before every flight, then you will
find it quickly and without much thinking in case you do need it.

------
unityByFreedom
Attentiveness in self driving cars is/will be an issue.

I wonder if there's anything like this that could be applied there. No ideas
come to mind, though I often think about how trains on tracks have mechanisms
for maintaining driver awareness.

~~~
jaxbot
This is why many are worried about Level 3 autonomy vehicles -- that is,
driver assist where the car can drive ~95% of the time, but the driver may
need to intervene at any moment. So far all the studies I've seen indicate
that the driver loses attentiveness whether they mean to or not, and the
disengagement times are in multiple seconds.

Personally, I think a system needs to work well enough to drive itself the
whole trip, or be dumb enough to act as cruise control with some crash
prevention built in, but otherwise force the driver to be on task.

------
soneca
I do that sometimes when I'm coding. I want to debug something, or just check
some particularly important or tricky part and I say the lines outloud while
doing some hand movement pointing to the lines kind of rithmically.

------
d0mine
> pointing-and-calling is known to reduce workplace errors by up to 85
> percent, according to one 1996 study.

If it is supported only by one study; it seems like cargo-culting: performing
a ritual without a solid proof that it actually works.

~~~
FabHK
Another quote from the article:

> According to MTA spokeswoman Amanda Kwan, conductors were quick to adapt to
> the new system, and within two years of implementation, incidents of
> incorrectly berthed subways fell 57 percent.

------
gbog
When looking for something I use my phone's torch and point on the floor. Last
time I found back a little magnet lost by my kid in the 50 metres of alley to
our place. So yes I guess it works to force the mental focus.

------
joshaidan
I wonder if there's some way to apply this to coding. Besides annoying my co-
workers, would verbally talking about what I'm coding improve the quality of
my code, or productivity? What about physical gestures?

~~~
Evansbee
It feels like our equivalent would be Rubber Duck Debugging.

------
martytheartiste
If you want to improve your memory. go to youtube and search for these videos.
BBC the truth about food. In one of the episodes they point out how eating
berries everyday improves your short term memory

------
princeb
people talk to themselves all the time on the trading floor (the kanko part of
the shinsakanko). rather look like a weirdo than lose a couple thousand bucks
(or worse) on a 100% avoidable error.

~~~
princeb
edit: to clarify, when submitting orders to an electronic exchange, traders
will call out (to themselves) the price size direction and instrument before
sending the ticket. I personally also mouseover all the important parts so i'm
not just going through motions.

this method seems particularly effective for work that is routine but never in
the same scenario. Ever since I picked up this habit I have applied this to
everything else I do - booking flight tickets, hotels, buying things on
amazon, etc. avoiding errors is so much of a good thing - for those of you
with really bad experiences firefighting at work will know the importance of
not being in the position where you need to firefight at all.

------
locusm
When Im debugging and I turn nothing up the first look through I often speak
out loud what Im thinking. I find it helps in most cases, it also helps Im at
home while doing it.

------
doktrin
I'm a little embarrassed to say that I lived in Japan for several years (in
high school) and never really noticed this or thought of it as being out of
the ordinary.

------
solidsnack9000
The United States nuclear navy follows a similar procedure called "point and
shoot" according to Covey's _Turn the Ship Around_.

------
martytheartiste
For the umbrella haters please tell me everything that you hate about them
besides getting or possibly getting poked in the eye.

Is that the only problem?

------
emiliobumachar
I keep much better track of laps when jogging in the park after I started
saying each lap number out loud when completing it.

------
caf
I feel like adopting a version of this system could help avoid those
occasional forgotten-child-in-car tragedies.

------
m-j-fox
Do they still have smoking sections on Japanese trains? That's amazing.

------
FunnyLookinHat
As an April Fools next year I'm going to experiment with writing code this way
to see how my coworkers react.

Pointing at screen and shouting: "It should throw an error if the input is
NaN". _types furiously_

------
edsheeran
It's a form of reinforcement. We've all seen flight attendants going through
pointing drills during a safety briefing before takeoff. Pilots do this too
when walking the ground for preflight checks.

------
known
AKA
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voice_acting_in_Japan](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voice_acting_in_Japan)

------
martytheartiste
its so nice when you post to this website and half of your post disappears

------
PDoyle
This is news? They do this on the subways in New York and Toronto too.

------
Overtonwindow
Don't they do this pointing on the NYC subway system too?

~~~
Overtonwindow
Seriously, they point when they get to the station.
[http://www.mta.info/news/2013/11/12/subway-conductors-
point-...](http://www.mta.info/news/2013/11/12/subway-conductors-point-way-
safety)

------
johansch
The Swiss train system is similarly renowned. How do they do it?

~~~
Darthy
Well, they definitely don't do any pointing-and-calling.

This might be a good subject for a study - compare both rail systems, does
this really lead to higher performance and lower accidents?

~~~
metricodus
Maybe in the end it all just boils down to how much money is allocated to run
the systems...

------
Ericson2314
Theory: Any task benfitting from this can be fully automated without a very
intelligent program.

In the meantime, let's swallow our pride and do this, seems like a good idea.

------
JohnJamesRambo
I think I'd go insane if that was my job. It seems so utterly dehumanizing to
have a human do that job every day. I don't mean just the pointing but the
standing and doing things that surely computers and cameras could easily do.

~~~
Jill_the_Pill
Wow, my reaction is exactly the opposite. Good on the Japanese railways for
employing intelligent and responsible adults to care for everyone's safety
instead of cheaping out with cameras and computers. These are solid,
respectable jobs, and it means there will always be competent people around to
help when things go awry.

~~~
JohnJamesRambo
Should a human being have his life's work be forty years of checking if bags
are caught in a door? Modern society is weird. Automation can free us from
humans having to be automatons.

~~~
CPLX
That sounds crazy. Someone should help them transition to a more modern and
healthy lifestyle of spending forty years improving the conversion rate of
small digital advertisements.

~~~
ddingus
BAM! Well done. :D

