Why you can't lie about trains being late in Japan!

The world raves about Japan's passion for punctuality. The trains run on time in what seems like an unbelievably effortless routine. But there will be days when there are accidents or someone has dropped their smartphone on the train tracks resulting in delays.

If you're running late for work or school due to a train delay, you are expected to present a 遅延証明書 "Chien Shomeisho" (literally, certificate of lateness), shortened to "chiensho." The eki-in (駅員), station employee, at the ticket gates hand these over to those who need to produce them as proof in order to avoid a "late" penalty.

This is one of the older styles of a chiensho that you do not usually see these days. The red circle on the left indicates the delay time; the circle on the bottom refers to the date; and the blue underline is the name of the station.

Here is another one where you can see the minutes written in red. That's right, there was a 420 min delay!!

View this post on Instagram

420分。こんな時間の初めてもらった… ﾍ(*¨)ﾉ #阪急 #遅延証明書

A post shared by yu_a_ (@yu__a_) on Jun 19, 2018 at 1:30am PDT

You also get smaller printed versions which have become more common.

View this post on Instagram

☺︎ 総武線ユーザー。 . . . 趣味は遅延証明書集めです。 . . . 今週、4日連続の遅刻。どうせなら明日も！笑 . . . 明日は京浜東北線で出勤。 . . . #乗り物系女子 #総武線 #総武線ユーザー #遅延 #遅延証明書 #津田沼 #浅草橋

A post shared by みさき (@misaaaaki_815) on Jul 4, 2018 at 5:01pm PDT

Another version with the minutes in column form (分＝min) and the date is on the bottom.

View this post on Instagram

最近ちゃんと電車動いてるからいつもより1本おそめに。。と思ったらそれを逃してさらに1本遅いのになった? でも間に合う時間だな～っていう時に限っておくれるよね? でもギリギリ出勤時間に間に合った (^-^)v #遅延証明書 #だいたいそう

A post shared by @ hisatodahisato on Feb 20, 2018 at 9:13pm PST

What do you do if you forget to get one?

You can print an online version!

For Japan Railways: http://traininfo.jreast.co.jp/delay_certificate/

For Tokyo Metro: https://www.tokyometro.jp/lang_en/index.html#

Whenever there is a train delay, you will constantly hear announcements stating the cause of the delay as well as apologies from the railway staff; not just that, they also recommend alternative routes. One of the those things that only happens in Japan!

Download the Ikidane Nippon App: iOS / Android