Air conditioning. The Odakyū has two levels. Soft and Normal. The second carriage from the front, the second carriage from the back. So you have to make the big decision – step from outdoor heat-humidity into cold or moderately cold air conditioning. Either way it can be welcome. But also a sure-and-certain route into summer colds. Round the clock sniffing, sniffling. And it is not done to blow your nose in public. In theory, the sniffing, the sniffling, has to be delicate. In fact there are some pretty big sniffs, not to say sniffles.

Cool Biz. Under the LDP government regime of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi (2001-2006) and ‘to fight global warming’ men were urged to forego ties and pitch for the open-necked shirt and short sleeves. This was the Koizumi of Post Office Privatization, Koizumi the aficionado of Elvis and Wagner. Salarymen thus abandoned years of sartorial practice, be-knottedness. ‘Special’ open-necked shirts were advertised. Those still reluctant to forego old habits kept their ties but stylized their loosening – tie-pin in place with the tie a good 100+ millimetres open and at an angle. Just as Koizumi's ample, winged hair (for which, and his politics, he became known as ‘Lionheart’), became his personal insignia, so his espousal of men's cool-biz shirts remains one of his legacies. Visible daily aboard the summer Odakyū Line.

Full Odakyū Apache. The phrase echoes Takayuki Tatsumi's Full Metal Apache: Transactions Between Cyperpunk Japan and Avant-Pop America (2006) with its wide-ranging take on East-West cultural inter-image. It comes to mind during today's Express trip from Mukōgaoka-yūen to Machida. Normally you see salarymen in regulation black, grey or blue suits, or uniformed school-goers (Prussian-military for boys, sailor-style for girls), or a range of normally kitted other commuters. But today, maybe because it is Summer and a Sunday, a sight of rainbow exuberance. Student-aged woman. Yellow shoes. White inset sock. Tights with different-coloured spiral pattern. White frilly skirt. Russet jacket.