On my first trip to Japan, I found myself in a large Tokyo subway station at the bottom of a nose-bleedingly high escalator. I was already running late for a meeting, and missing my connecting train would mean an awkward, if not deserved, explanation on time management (or the lack thereof).

Pedestrians filled the escalator, though they were neatly separated into two groups: the majority, who were standing to the left, and the minority, who were valiantly slogged up the moving steps at slow...