On Japan’s trains and buses, priority seating is available for the elderly, the handicapped, pregnant women and those carrying infants. When the seats are not occupied, anyone can sit down. Sometimes young people sit in these seats, and, to avoid the judgmental looks they get from other passengers, pretend to sleep or stare at their smartphones. The other day, I was standing with my wife in the front of a queue at a bus stop. A little way behind us were some elderly people. Further behind them was an old man with a walking stick. The bus arrived and we sat in a double seat in the middle of the bus. The elderly people did not sit in the designated priority seating in the front, but sat on seats in the rear. A little later, the old man with the walking stick got on, but surprisingly, he also sat in an ordinary seat. I muttered, “How considerate, they are offering up the priority seats to those with less mobility.” Then, my wife said to me in a small voice. “No, they are demonstrating that they are not so old themselves.” Soon the bus filled up, but the priority seats remained vacant. My wife said, “If the elderly acted their age and sat in the priority seats, other passengers could sit in the ordinary seats.”