The old man
On Wednesday April 8, 2015 I was leaving a McDonald’s on a stret called Ome Kaido (a busy thoroughfare) and on my way to a local language school for evening classes. Just next to the McDonald’s is one of the entrances to the Shin-Nakano subway station, a station that I sometimes use. Access to the underground station is either by elevator for those in need of it, or by stairs. I prefer the elevator simply because I’m tired of climbing stairs. But subway station elevators are not always conveniently positioned on the surface. Anyway, this staircase entrance to this particular station has a step up from the sidewalk. That means to enter it you first have to step up from the pavement before you can descend the stairs. And, when you exit you step down onto the pavement from the top stair. When I passed by on Wednesday 8th I saw an old man with a cane on the ground and a bloody nose. He was surrounded by pedestrians offering help, asking if he lived nearby, etc. Obviously he had just stumbled - either entering or exiting the station, it could have been either. I figure that with the elderly population growing all the time here these kinds of public incidents might become much more common. I thought the blood on his face looked remarkably bright red. It didn’t look like what you see in the movies.