Quiet public transport. Three people looking at smartphones on a subway platform in Tokyo

Photo: Alpgiray Kelem · Japan · 2026-06-09 · Editorial use

License on Getty Images

Tokyo, Japan - June 9, 2026: Three people stand in silence on a subway platform in Tokyo, each looking down at a smartphone. On the left, a man in a striped shirt with a backpack holds his phone in both hands beside the platform screen doors. At the center, a young man in a light blue shirt carries a camouflage backpack and a jacket over his arm as he types on his phone. On the right, a woman wearing over-ear headphones and a brown jacket reads her screen with a tote bag on her shoulder. A timetable for trains bound for Oshiage hangs on a cream-colored pillar, and yellow tactile paving runs along the tiled floor toward seated figures and a restroom sign further down the platform. Despite its large population, Tokyo stays quiet even at busy hours, and the sounds heard in the city are mostly vending machine voices and subway announcements.

• City Life
• Afternoon
• Architectural Column
• Backpack
• Capital Cities
• East Asia
• Fluorescent Light
• Headphones
• Honshu
• Incidental People
• Jacket
• Japan
• Kanto Region
• Listening
• Looking Down
• Mobile Phone
• Portable Information Device
• Public Transportation
• Railroad Station Platform
• Rail Transportation
• Real People
• Selective Focus
• Shirt
• Silence