Man saved by fellow passengers after falling onto Ginza subway line

saved from certain death by fellow passengers who pushed the emergency button

Pathetic. Old guy falls on the track, and the only dude that jumps in to save him is a 79 y/o? Mighty heroic, that button pushing. Might have sprained your thumb.

Glad the old guy's OK, though. Still a nice story to read.

@bamboohat: You were there? You witnessed everything? Then don't jump to conclusions. Seems to happen a lot, people falling onto traintracks hope it doesn't become a habit

Police said it appeared that the two elderly men had been drinking.

Surprise, surprise.

You were there? You witnessed everything? Then don't jump to conclusions

The only conclusions I jumped to were the ones presented in the article.

People in this country drink WAY TOO MUCH! I have not seen such wreckless drinking since high school. By the time someone is 25 he or she should be well familiar with his or her limits for drinking. By the time you are in your 40's you should have significant common sense about the damage excessive alcohol can do to your body. And throughout your adult life you should have the simple common sense and pride not to make fool of yourself in public.

None of this wisdom seems to have been gained by legions of Japanese. People drink til the drop from teens to geriatrics. And I know so many OLs who can put away two bottles of wine in a sitting all on their own.

Japan has a very serious alcoholism problem. One on a scale unimaginable in penetration across both sexes, all age groups and all class strata. The country should do something to address this problem and less forgiving lattitude given to people who are trashed in public.

I for one am sick of people puking on platforms, in the train at the station, all along the street. Shameful behavior. Learn to be an adult and hold your alcohol.

The Japanese have a lot of freedom with alcohol, they could try to be a little more responsible. The other afternoon on my way home, a man stumbled into the train and fell into the seat across from me. He reeked like a distillery, and surprise, surprise: polished off a One Cup Ozeki right there. Just before getting into the main station he open another and started chugging away, then staggered off the train swaying around like a boxer in a ring.

they should be prohibited from drinking after a certain amount has been consumed.

What is it with people falling onto the tracks??? Is the man a hero for saving his friends life or is the drunk a stupid idiot for being so drunk that he put his friends life in danger (as well as his own). No doubt both.

The man who fell suffered broken ribs but is reportedly in good condition.

What is the old saying about god protecting drunks? Don't know if these gold old boys should be praised, one took a dive and the other stumbled around probably looking for the keys in his pocket. Sound rather comic really.

the 71-year-old man fell from the platform. His 79-year-old friend jumped down onto the tracks to try and lift him up but failed.

True friendship...something I miss here in Japan!

Comments here are way too serious- We really do not know what happened. Honestly we don't know if this man was drunk, partially blinded, handicapped, mentally defective or had seizures or what have you. We don't know.

Drunk or mentally defective be my guest to sovle this mystery in why he fell down onto the tracks.

The guy who fell on the tracks should be fined for interruption of business and endangering others, it is essentially the same thing as drunken driving. And also a good reminder that the train can be stopped by an emergency button.

whiskeysour...Comments here are way to （JT detectives )serious- We really do not know what happened. Honestly we don't know if this man was drunk, partially blinded, handicapped, mentally defective or had seizures or what have you. We don't know.

Police said it appeared that the two elderly men had been drinking.

several other passengers pulled the two men back up onto the platform.

Even though it was obviously their fault, it good to see some people helping out. I once saw a woman fall at Itami while everyone walked to edge of the tracks to watch while I helped her. Lucky there were no trains coming.

Jack and Jeb went up to Ginza to fetch a pint of whisky Jack fell down and broke his ribs and Jeb came tumbling after...

I don't follow how the tracks are so easy to fall on. Seems to happen a fair bit. Glad it worked out and is not a sad story.

Well, it is important to track your drinking so you don't fall behind and have to depend on your friends to help you back up.

But when it comes to alcohol, some people just have a one track mind...

I wondering if the guy that pushed the button was wearing his track suit...

Another hero - good to read.

Many of Tokyo's metro stations are dangerous and should be failing health & safety regulations. The Ginza line platform at Omotesando has pillars along the platform which force passengers to walk dangerously close to the edge of the platform as they walk around the pillars. When the platform is busy with people waiting you have no choice but to walk close to the edge. At Meiji-Jingumae station on the Chiyoda line platform they have built an elevator for access to the new Fukatoshin line but this reduces the width on the platform to make it extremely dangerous for passengers when they walk through the narrow space. At busy times commuters getting off at Meiji-Jingumae have to wait for people getting on at the narrow point before they can walk any further.

There aren't too many nice stories here, but here's one that's uplifting.

thank goodness they acted quickly, but acted for sure

let`s hear it for these guys!!!!! yeah.

tkoind, wrong. Japanese do not drink way too much. Just look at beer consumption per capita. Top 4 are Czech, Ireland, Germany, Australia (no surprises so far), US is 13, NZ 16, Canada 19. Japan is 32nd. They only drink 50 liters of beer a year, which is one-third of what people drink in the Czech Republic. Anyway, glad some people acted to save this drunk man.

Moderator: Readers, stay on topic please. Beer consumption rates are not relevant to this discussion.

Great news that these two were saved by the assistance of good samaritans.

bamboohat:

Pathetic. Old guy falls on the track, and the only dude that jumps in to save him is a 79 y/o? Mighty heroic, that button pushing. Might have sprained your thumb.

The only conclusions I jumped to were the ones presented in the article.

Then surely you read the part where the article states "A man in his 20s saw what was happening and pushed the emergency button while several other passengers pulled the two men back up onto the platform."

A few key points here bamboohat:

One is that while you seem to be mocking the significance of the guy pushing the e-stop button, the e-stop button served a better purpose in this particular situation than a pulled fire alarm would in a fire. The reason is because, as the article states, the train was still one minute away from the station, and if pushing the e-stop button at the station signals the train to immediately stop, then this was a rational decision made by the man to push the button before possibly jumping down to help anyone because there was plenty of time to push the button.

Point number 2 is that the man in his 20's pushed the emergency button "while several other passengers pulled the two men back up onto the platform." The key word here being WHILE. This means that either the man in his 20's worked as a team with the group of other passengers who helped pull the men up, or the man in his 20's joined in after the the group of passengers started pulling the men up and figured this was the best thing he could do since only so many people can actually help pull 2 men up onto the platform, OR, the man in his 20's planned to push the button and then go down and help the men onto the platform, but the group of passengers started doing that as he pushed the button.

Hey, sorry for the long post... I guess what I'm trying to say is that despite what you may think or what you may have intended on saying, you're comment reflects that of a person jumping to conclusions without knowing all of the details. Details are important. It's very possible that these people did the right thing and did not stand around with their thumbs up their a$$es like you suggest. I say bravo to them.

Well said Tahoochi! Apologies to the mod for being off topic.

not sure what the 79 year old was thinking jumping down there...lift him back off the track LOL.

WOW! If I ever fall off the platform I hope others will rescue me so beautifully. Well done, Nihonjinron.

Well said Tahoochi. My sentiments exactly.

There are three different topics to bring up about this incident:

1) The rampant alcoholism in this country. Never anywhere else in the world have I seen a shop-keeper sell alcohol to someone who is dead drunk at 3 a.m., but see it here often. ANYONE can buy alcohol from alcohol vending machines, etc. There needs to be less emphasis on year end/start fiscal year end/start mid-year, etc., drinking parties on more on common sense when it comes to alcohol. I am not at all surprised that the guy was drunk, nor was I surprised when the woman who fell on the tracks a month or so back was also pronounced drunk.

2) The lack of safety measures, such as plexiglass doors on the platform, or even simple railings, to prevent this nearly daily occurence. Not very economically practical for the train companies, but then neither are trains being stopped due to people jumping/falling on the tracks, or having to clean up all the pieces of someone who gets hit.

3) Damn.... forget what I wanted to say for the third one. I AM glad that people saved the old man, and that we're reading more stories like this instead of about people being pushed in front of trains by disgruntled teens, but I really wish people knew their limits, or were more careful when they did not.

This guy and his friend are really, really lucky just to be alive! It would be nice if they did not allow these drunken fools on to trains and subways, make them take a taxi home.