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Angry confrontation breaks out after man coughs on Yamanote Line train in Tokyo 【Video】

Oona McGee Mar 2, 2020
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Disturbing video shows coronavirus fears have Japanese commuters on edge.

Now that Prime Minister Abe has asked Japanese schools to close and tourist spots like Disneyland and the Ghibli Museum have shut their doors temporarily, concerns regarding the growing coronavirus outbreak are steadily mounting in Japan.

Today, tensions reached breaking point for a man on one of Tokyo’s busiest trains, who became annoyed at a fellow passenger who coughed without wearing a mask.

The angry outburst was captured on video by Twitter user @__Aerials and shared online with the comment: “Adults start a disturbance due to the coronavirus, triggered by a cough on the Yamanote Line.”

Take a look at the tweet below:

https://twitter.com/__Aerials/status/1233280600640872448

According to @__Aerials, the argument started when the younger man seated on the left-hand side of the video coughed without wearing a mask. After the man coughed, the older man on the right lost his temper, raising his voice at him and standing over him threateningly.

While the video starts after the initial outburst, the man on the right can be heard telling the man, in no uncertain terms, to stop what he’s doing. As he backs away and sits down again, the younger man tells him that he’s the one acting strangely, which gets the old man riled up again.

The older man then approaches him again, using coarse language to tell him he’s to blame for what’s happening. He shouts at him while getting up close to his face to make his point, which, strangely, seems counterintuitive for someone protesting against the possibility of catching germs.

It’s at this point that two women step in to try and calm the man down, and the video appears to end at a stalemate.

Thankfully, the argument ended without anyone getting physical, although it stirred up heavy debate online, with people leaving comments like:

“This guy will suffer from high blood pressure before he suffers from the coronavirus.”
“Respect to the old guy — I hate it when people cough on the train.”
“Why didn’t the younger guy just say sorry? That would’ve diffused the situation.”
“We all have to be careful to cover our mouths when coughing now.”
“I saw something similar happen at the cash register at a drugstore.”
“Masks are sold out so a lot of people can’t buy them even if they want to.”

It’s true that masks are currently sold out at a lot of stores around the country, and now that tensions are rising people are panic-buying essentials like toilet paper and tissues too.

With this not being the first incident of an unmasked-coughing-induced rage incident on a Japanese train, it’s becoming increasingly important for people to keep calm while riding public transport in Japan. And if you’re eager to wear a mask out in public but can’t get your hands on one due to the shortage, you can always fashion one out of kitchen paper.

Source: Niconico News via Jin
Featured image: Pakutaso
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