The fact that an old couple thanked me sincerely three times for giving up my space against the wall of the train (none of the young folks in the priority seating were moving) says a lot to me about the supposed politeness of Japanese these days. A train worker was right in front of the couple, but said nothing. Grr. Wish I'd had the language ability to properly bawl the seated kiddies out. Now theres some good motivation for language learning!