Japan: Yamanote Line Sprint

Earlier this week, roughly 20,000 Tokyo commuters were forced to wait 20 minutes when a 40-year-old woman jumped onto the tracks of the Yamanote Line [ja], one of the city's busiest train lines, and began to run. Reportedly triggered by trouble with an aquaintance [ja], the woman's 1.5 km sprint — heading from Yoyogi station to Harajuku station — was heralded by many as the first of its kind. Needless to say, many wondered what it was the woman was thinking.

Blogger a-usa explains what happened and offers her thoughts:

JR山手線代々木-原宿間(約1.5キロ)の線路を11日夜、女性が“疾走”した騒動。
警視庁原宿署などのその後の調べで、女性は直前に知人とトラブルになって代々木駅で下車後、線路に飛び降りていたことが分かった...
線路上を女性が走っているのをすれ違った電車の車掌が発見、無線で緊急停止を連絡し電車をすぐに非常停止させた。

There is all this noise about a woman who, on the evening of the 11th, made a “sprint” along the JR Yamanote line between Yoyogi and Harajuku stations (about 1.5 km). According to a follow-up investigation by the Shinjuku Police station, just before the incident the woman had had some troubles with an acquaintance, and after getting off at Yoyogi station, she jumped onto the tracks…
It was the conductor of a train that passed her by who saw the woman running along the tracks, radioed for an emergency shutdown, and immediately brought the train to an emergency stop.

凄い話ですよ。私にはとてもじゃないけど線路の上を1.5キロも走れない。
しかも45歳の女性と言うのだから驚きます。
すれ違った電車の車掌さんも、さぞかし驚いたでしょう。絶対にあり得ませんよこんな事。
私が車掌だったら、たぶん妖怪か幽霊だと思ったに違いない。

It's really an amazing story. I could never do that, run 1.5 kilometers along the train tracks.
And on top of that, they say that the woman is 45 years old, that really surprised me.
The conductor of the train must also have been surprised. It's an absolutely unbelievable story.
If I was the conductor, I'm sure I would have mistaken it for a specter or a ghost.

しかし、45歳にもなって何をやっているのだ。精神的に不安定で刑事責任は問われずに家族に引き渡されたというのだが、それでいいのか?精神的に不安定と言われても程度が分からないし、これではジャッジが出来ませんよ。(審判か)
まったく、おかしな事があるものです。
何があったかわかりませんが、人様に迷惑をかけてはいけませんね。(笑)

But what was this 45-year-old person doing anyway? Because she is mentally unstable, they didn't press for criminal charges and just handed her over to her family, but is that really enough? While she may be called mentally unstable, it is not known to what degree she is unstable, and it's not possible, from what is known, to make a judgment.
Strange things like this do happen.
I don't know what happened [with her], but people should not cause other people trouble. (LOL)

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