Who holds the record for longest slumber past their stop?

[GaijinPunch]

Everyone has one of these stories.... just wondering who has the longest. In my wilder days, I luckily lived on the Inokashira-sen, which is comparitvely shorter than it's big brother the Keio, and just about any other line for that matter. My worst instance was going home about 8 or 9 AM one morning. I crashed just outside of Shibuya, and woke up in Kichijouji (last stop).... I lived in Meidaimae at the time... the half way point. Not too bad.

As an exchange student, one of my friends crashed on the Tokaidou line... not pretty. He woke up somewhere in Shizuoka. Whoops. :)

[nice gaijin]

somehow i've got that internal alarm clock that wakes me up just when I need it, I always woke up just before they announced the stop I wanted. I'd see japanese people completely knocked out, and the second the doors opened they'd dash off the train. it was amazing.

[lexico]

I used to be so bad about getting up on my stop, and often overslept from seconds to half an hour, ending up at the last stop...then one day a miracle happened. I told myself that I shall be awake and alert by such-n-such, and bingo I was up right on time. I would get so precise about it I began to believe that there must be a biological clock in my head.

Over the years, I gradually fell out of focus, but I know the ability is there somewhere. Whether tired or not, stressed or not, wanting to be there and then when I need to will give me the focus I need to be up. But I do not know what exactly is needed to keep the focus. Desire, maybe ?

[MeAndroo]

My worst was on the Seibu-Shinjuku line. I went from Shinjuku and was supposed to get off at Kami-igusa (about 7 stops) and instead ended up in Hon-Kawagoe, somewhere in Saitama.

[Silverpoint]

I've never fallen asleep on a train in my life. This includes the sleeper train I took overnight from Tokyo to Tottori.

[Mike Cash]

somehow i've got that internal alarm clock that wakes me up just when I need it, I always woke up just before they announced the stop I wanted. I'd see japanese people completely knocked out, and the second the doors opened they'd dash off the train. it was amazing.

The interesting thing is that most foreigners who have ridden the trains in the evening have seen that multiple times....yet no one ever seems to entertain the notion that perhaps the person who woke up and dashed off the train did not wake up at their desired stop. Everybody just seems to take it for granted that the Japanese have some sort of unique biological mechanism which unfailingly awakens them precisely at their station.

[PopCulturePooka]

The interesting thing is that most foreigners who have ridden the trains in the evening have seen that multiple times....yet no one ever seems to entertain the notion that perhaps the person who woke up and dashed off the train did not wake up at their desired stop. Everybody just seems to take it for granted that the Japanese have some sort of unique biological mechanism which unfailingly awakens them precisely at their station.
Except after a time you eventually start doing it yourself. Knowing just how long a sleep you can have.


I have my own story.

One night a room-mate and I did an all-nighter at Yokohama gaspanic. My roomie had picked up and gone love hotelling with his girl, so I stumbled to Yokohama station alone and got on my train. The JR Yokohama line to Nagatsuta stationg, about halfway on the line.

I get in, its about 6:00am and the trains filling up. But seeings as though its an outbound train away from a major city, its not so bad. I sit down and drift off into an alcohol fueled sleep. And wake up at the very last stop on the line, the trains empty.

Startled I do the lurch lunge out the train and onto the train into Yokohama. And drift of into blissful sleep again.

And wake up at Bbloody well Yokohama station.

Again I do the lurch lunge, get back on the outbound JR Yokohama line... and AGAIN fall asleep. Must have been snoring or something, because I woke up to a group of school kids laughing at me. Look up just as the doors are closing... AT MY STATION. So go to the next one and change trains yet again.

Finally get to Nagatsuta and change to the Denentoshi line to Aobadai, my stop. Got there ok and took a cab home.

[Mike Cash]

Except after a time you eventually start doing it yourself. Knowing just how long a sleep you can have.


I'm not suggesting that it isn't possible or that it doesn't happen. I'm only pointing out that that the observer has no way of knowing for sure that the person got off at the right stop. Yet the tendency is to assume that he has.

[Pachipro]

I once fell asleep on the Nanbu sen from Shin-Yokohama. I was supposed to get off at Noborito to take the Odakyu line home. I was out drinking in a beer garden with some of my students and made the mistake of drinking sake, which always knocks me for a loop. I caught one of the last trains. Like many Japanese, I assumed "the position" once seated on the train: arms crossed at my chest, feet crossed at the ankles and tucked back, and my head down with my chin touching my chest. Of course I fell asleep.

While living in Japan I learned to wake up just as my train was pulling into my destination, but not this time. I was out like a light. The next thing I remember is the conductor waking me up at Tachikawa station telling me it was the end of the line. It was like 1:10 am and there were no more trains out of there. I just found a bench and slept on it 'till the first train at about 4:50 am and no one bothered me. That was my worst experience.

[Ewok85]

I slept to the end of the Chuo-sen one morning, I arrived at school aroung 11am :|

Most mornings it would be hop on a train for a 20min nap to Chiba, one hour snooze to Tokyo, then another 30mins to get to Ouji station. Coming home was even better because I could get on the express from Tokyo which sat for 20mins before leaving and get a good 2hrs sleep :D

[GaijinPunch]

The only (potentially) bad one I missed was when I was going out in Shinjuku one night, coming in on the Keio line. Some Salaryman was passed out on the chair, and eventually wound up on the floor. Keio line is pretty long, and it forks at the end. It was nearing last train, so it could've been a potential disaster for this poor guy. Given his attire and the time, chances are he had slept through his stop once one the way home, came back, and was going back out again. You gotta love the Japanese' ability to see something and completely ignore it.

[Kara_Nari]

I always sleep on the train or bus, but I have never have never been unfortunate enough to oversleep. I think I get lost enough and go to wrong stops without having sleep to blame it on :D
However I did fall asleep last night in a singing room, and for some reason... which I am yet to ask the sleeping people in the same room as me WHY? I was left there with no money, no idea how to get back to the dorms without having to pay any money, and already I was very angry and upset with one member of the party. Luckily I woke up and they were still outside having some other drunken argument.
I have a friend who came to Korea and she often woke up at the bus station due to drunken slumbers. Not being able to speak the best korean she luckily was able to get back to her apartment anyway.