You are the elevator captain: a guide to Japan's unspoken elevator etiquette
by Cory Doctorow from on (#34VKH)
The first person in an elevator in Japan in the "elevator captain," with duties to keep the door-open button pressed during load/unload and then button-mash close-door once loading is complete, with elevator captaincy being transferred to the next-most-proximate rider once the captain reaches their floor. (more")