Tokyo Shimbun essayist and commentator Hiroo Kōhi reported on note that his lifelong habit of arriving excessively early for travel and appointments has intensified into a rigid routine driven by self-doubt and anxiety, leading him to wait hours at transit hubs and scout neighborhood conveniences before meetings.
The Evolution of Extreme Early Arrival Habits
Kōhi described himself as an “irachi”—a regional Kansai term for an impatient person—noting that while he frequently missed appointments or forgot schedules in his youth, his transition to self-employment eliminated his trust in his own punctuality. According to note, observing former professional baseball players Toshihide Komatsu and Katsumi Katō routinely arrive 30 minutes before scheduled meetings convinced Kōhi that athletic punctuality standards were genuine, prompting him to accelerate his own schedules further. Now frequently arriving at least one hour before interviews or corporate meetings, Kōhi spends the intervening time inspecting neighborhood convenience stores like FamilyMart, Lawson, and Seven-Eleven, or checking emergency exit routes near publishing offices such as Shinchosha and Toyo Keizai Inc.
Managing Travel Anxiety on Shinkansen and Domestic Flights
The habit extends beyond business meetings to long-distance transportation, where Kōhi reported arriving at railway stations up to two hours early and airports more than three hours prior to departure. When utilizing the Smart EX reservation system for Shinkansen bullet trains, Kōhi acknowledged sometimes boarding earlier unreserved cars out of impatience, drawing inquiring glances from train conductors checking tickets. On a domestic flight departing from Ishigaki Airport, note reported that an airline agent noticed Kōhi sitting alone two hours before his scheduled departure and reassigned him to an earlier, uncrowded flight. Despite these margins, Kōhi admitted that elaborate route planning occasionally backfires, causing him to board trains traveling in the opposite direction and leading to rare, accidental tardiness with first-time acquaintances.
Kōhi Observes Platform Exit Patterns at Kyoto Station
During train journeys, Kōhi remains alert rather than resting, dragging luggage to the passenger deck well ahead of arrival while composing silent humorous observations. As passengers gather behind him near the exit doors, Kōhi observed that fellow travelers often assume the door he leans against will be the active one, despite variations in platform assignments. On the Tokaido Shinkansen line at Kyoto Station, southbound trains utilize Track 13 for left-side exits and Track 14 for right-side exits, a distinction Kōhi manages through observation rather than advance scheduling.
Kōhi previously recorded similar personal reflections on transit habits and professional routines through his regular commentary published on note.
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