Automatic Doors

Osaka is a lot slower as a city than many other large cities. Many people believe this is due to how many people live in Osaka (roughly 2000 per square centimetre at last count - indeed, I have 5 people sat in my apartment right now to keep that statistic correct). However, I do not believe this is true, for I have solved the slowness issue: automatic doors.

Before you dismiss this idea outright, I want you to walk to the nearest convenience store - now see how close you need to get before those doors open. Like me, you've probably actually walked into them a couple of times while being engrossed in the latest 'Enquirer' issue. I'm still confused as to why an automatic door should be designed so that you will probably have to stop to allow the door to open. This would mean that manual doors are quicker. Maybe it's a politeness thing, so that you feel the doors are being opened for *you*. Maybe it's to stop the door being set off by people walking past. I'm not sure, but what I do know is that since there is a convenience store every 100 feet in Japan by law, that's a lot of doors, and thats a lot of slowing down.