A Mexican friend, inspired by my photos of Japanese men sleeping on trains, sent me this photo of the Sistema de Transporte Colectivo. A few things struck me when I looked at it for the first time.
For one there are no men. The hombres, I was told, are corralled in other cars. Like Japan, the trains in Guadalajara have cars for women only. Three of them, in fact. Not sure if this is to prevent perverts from copping a feel like in Japan or perhaps for religious reasons.
The second thing I noticed is how clean the train was. No garbage on the floor like in China. No graffiti as is all too common in the U.S.
As for the third thing, take a look at the walls and ceiling of the train. Notice anything? Or rather, do you notice anything missing? Those of you who have ridden Japanese trains will probably be impressed that there isn't a single advertisement inside the train. In Japan, hardly any space is left untouched by an advertisement of some sort. You're attacked by it at every turn. If the train companies could find a way of putting adverts on the passengers themselves, I'm sure they would go and do it.