The Atlantic: A New Yorker's (Sadly Lopsided) Scorecard of Tokyo Transportation

[Sanddancer]

2. Loco Motion.

I'm familiar with the Osaka/Tokyo/Kyoto subway/underground systems and the Shinkhansen bullet train and thought them wonderful.

Back in the late 80s the Osaka network only identified the stations in Japanese. You had to be careful to count your stops before getting off. What pleased me the most to see was that they were running an advertising campaign on the trains for a local grocery chain. The campaign consisted of vacuum packed vegetables swinging from the ceiling of the compartments which were high enough for most the Japanese citizens to walk under by quite a few inches but had to be dodged by the likes of myself. It occured to me that if that had been any city in USA/Europe those vegs would not have lasted a second. Thye would have been destroyed and scattered.

The bullet trains were extremely clean and punctual with the carriage appearing in front of you at exactly the spot marked out on the platform. I did have one concern though when using the toilets. I had once accidentally chosen the cubicle with the more traditional squat toilet and it took me some time after assuming the position at 180MPH, to persuade myself that this was not Amtrak/British Rail and that I wasn't about to be thrown all over the place. It was turned out to be an easy passage in all regards.