A mundane train ride can turn out to be quite the communal experience, something that I learnt after riding the Aso Boy train to Aso, Kumamoto. I was babysitting my baby girl in the common lounge whereas the wife and son were exploring this charming train.
A Taiwanese lady just plopped down beside me and requested to hold my daughter as it had been ages since the last time she held a baby. I obliged, entrusting my daughter’s life in the hands of a complete stranger. Anyway, we chatted and it seemed that she was travelling in Japan without her son who had to mug for some examination. How carefree she was! I wonder if this was typical of Taiwanese parents. I wanted to share that Singaporean parents would probably not go gallivanting overseas when their offspring had to conquer high-stakes exams - but thought it wasn’t my place to be so candid. In any case, my wife returned with the son and it was my turn to babysit him.
Luckily, there was a play area full of balls in which he could dip inside and kick his legs everywhere. Surprisingly, he showed an interest in the origami room, so we hung out there for a while. I was quite impressed that JR Kyushu deployed one staff to be solely dedicated to teaching kids origami. Not that my boy absorbed much but he did exchange some pleasantries with her, which could only bode well for his Japanese speaking ability.
Aso Boy is fronted by a mascot called Kuro chan whose antics are interesting to observe. I dragged my boy to all parts of the train to see Kuro chan in various positions. And I wasn’t the only one. Trigger-happy tourists swarmed the train, their eyes darting purposefully about like those of houseflies, in search of the next award-winning photo to snap. This may be because they failed to secure the front seats on the train, the ones that enabled passengers to have picturesque views of the tracks and nature outside the train. These popular seats were always furiously snapped up; I know because my wife tried to book those seats, but to no avail. But I guess everything happens for a reason. If we had successfully booked the front seats, I wouldn’t have that interesting chat with the Taiwanese lady.
