The Railway Research Club at Kaisei School posted an apology on its official X (formerly Twitter) account, admitting that members violated manners during a trip aboard the Sunrise Seto/Izumo sleeper express. In response, the club says it will suspend travel and other activities. Thanks partly to the novelty of a prestigious school’s club being involved, the thread on 5ch’s News Express+ board took off — sparking criticism of the train fans’ misconduct itself, the perennial “photographers vs. riders, which type is more of a nuisance” debate, and, via Kaisei’s reputation as an elite prep school, a tangent into the age-old argument over whether success in middle-school entrance exams comes down to talent or effort.
Kaisei School Railway Research Club
@kstekken
[Apology] Regarding manner violations by our club aboard the Sunrise Seto/Izumo
Source: x.com / original post here
Is this why railway companies go easy on the photographer otaku? lol
Different flavor, same trash.
Photographer otaku cause plenty of trouble trackside too (´・ω・`)
Loud, violent, swarming and causing chaos in groups — yeah, basically delinquents.
Same everywhere in the world.
Manners tend to go downhill once people band together.
The real menace is the groups of drunk old guys making a racket on the Shinkansen.
The Shinkansen ride usually isn't that long so it's more bearable.
On a sleeper train you'd be stewing in irritation all night.
Seriously, it's all talent when it comes to these entrance exams.
I hear the top class for getting into Kaisei barely studies at all.
Same with my daughter — she got into JG (Joshigakuin) without studying much either, so I agree.
Saying she did zero studying would be a lie, but she was still out playing as usual even the day before the exam.
Yeah, I sort of get it.
For me it was only my strong subjects where class alone got me good scores — I guess for Kaisei kids that's every subject.
Hearing someone who's actually lived it say it's basically "talent over effort" is oddly reassuring.
It proves all those success-guru types preaching "effort pays off for everyone" (who just happened to be blessed with something themselves) are really just patting themselves on the back.
Life really does come down to talent, environment, and luck.
I'm not saying effort counts for nothing — it's just a correction factor between people who already start from similar conditions and standing.
You put in effort to narrow down how much luck can swing things, not to guarantee success.
So effort is still necessary.
Though I've basically gotten by on luck alone and I'm doing okay.
No matter how hard anyone trains, not a single human alive today can run 100m in a flat 9 seconds.
Everyone has their own ceiling on what effort alone can achieve.
Blocking the corridor — everyone's blocked a corridor at some point.
Hogging the lounge — the lounge is first-come-first-served, and with a big enough group that's bound to happen anyway.
Doesn't seem like that big a deal to me.
Probably just mean-spirited complaints from people who hate kids or are jealous of their academic pedigree.
It's a club activity — how would anyone even know their academic pedigree? Even with the uniform, is that uniform really recognizable nationwide?
Fine if it were some random group, but doing this while calling yourselves the Railway Research Club?
What is it about trains that drives people crazy?
I live near a high-deviation-score boys' school, and they're all little brats.
Apparently the school gets scolding phone calls from elderly neighbors all the time.
Probably a backlash from only ever being good at studying.
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Chicago subway
https://img-9gag-fun.9cache.com/photo/aMVRvpx_460svav1.mp4
There just aren't many of the Japanese-style train otaku — the Anglo-American type of train nerd does actually exist.
The type who lays track on a huge private plot of land to run their very own railway.
Well, American railways are either freight infrastructure or basically a "slum on wheels," so of course no otaku would go near them.
When I went to America, even the guidebook straight up said not to ride the subway lol.
• Railway otaku
• Obsessive anglers (tsuri-kichi)
I want to say Johnny's (idol) fangirls as the third one, but their turf is so narrow you'd probably never even cross paths.
The ones I really don't want to deal with are the "modified car" crowd lol.
Johnny's fangirls double as train otaku so that one checks out — I know one who goes around gushing "I just looove the Sunrise sleeper berths~"
I'd add camera geeks, mountain climbers, and idol-chasers to that list.
Background and Key Points of This Topic
The Sunrise Seto/Izumo is one of the last remaining scheduled overnight sleeper trains as services out of Ueno and elsewhere disappear, and because passengers share a private compartment alongside a common lounge and corridor for long stretches, it’s a mode of travel where manners easily become an issue. In this case, the apology statement only cites “a violation of manners,” so the specifics of what actually happened aren’t clear from the public information. Details floated in the thread — “loud talking in compartments,” “blocking the corridor,” “hogging the lounge” — are posters’ speculation, not an official explanation from Kaisei, and should be treated with caution. Also, “suspending activities” refers specifically to the Railway Research Club’s travel-related activities, not the abolition of the club itself. In the thread, reactions to the elite-school brand name spiraled into the familiar “talent vs. effort” debate over entrance exams, while opinions on the train hobby itself remained divided.
*This article is compiled from excerpts and a summary of the 5ch (News Express+) thread “[Tokyo] Kaisei School Railway Research Club Suspends Travel and Other Activities.”
