Uniformed officials of East Japan Railway Co. are solemnly but methodically at work. Their train has just made an emergency stop after running over a middle-age man, who is either unconscious or dead. The driver radios the control office in central Tokyo, from where police and an ambulance are alerted. The driver jumps off the train and checks the brakes. The conductor moves along the train to make sure all the passengers are OK.
Then the pair have the unenviable job of attending to the victim until the emergency services arrive. It is they who must administer first aid -- or move the body off the tracks and put a white sheet over it.
"Pick up the scattered body parts, if there are any," a senior official calls out to others gathered there.