Japan 2006: Tokyo Trains

The Hikari (Shinkansen) Service: Tokyo - Shin-Kobe

My trip ended where I began, in Tokyo, onboard the relentlessly efficient Shinkansen or more commonly known as the bullet train. Trains in Japan are alarmingly punctual. I was told that the average train delay for each Shinkansen service is roughly 30 sec per year. Considering that these trains take 3-hour long journeys across Japan, it clearly put other train systems worldwide to shame.

Imperial Palace, Tokyo

Tokyo is served by a multitude of rail systems including the JR - a corporatized former national entity, and private subways and at-grade railways. Rush hour in the morning can be quite traumatic for new visitors. Though less common nowadays, train staff still wield their white gloves to stuff the handbags and briefcases behind the closing train doors. And like most big cities, women-only cars are common on local rail service.

When I was in Tokyo, a train from the suburb had arrived late during the rush hour. The train operator staff could be seen handing out train delay notices to dishevelled salarymen for them to show their bosses! Using train delay as an excuse for tardiness does not work in Japan. One is also dissuaded from making cellphone calls in the train, which is incredibly obeyed by most people.

Transit-Oriented Development
The public rail system in Japan, like Hong Kong and Singapore, are privately-owned and buck the trend of rail systems in other parts of the world. In Europe and America, public rail systems are heavily-subsidized, lost-making enterprises supporting by taxpayers' money.

However, in Japan, as well as in Hong Kong, rail companies make their money through land development. Train companies own the land around their stations. These parcels, being so close to a public transport node, naturally fetch very high rent. Thus, big departmental stores like Takashimaya, Isetan and Daimaru cluster around train stations, paying dearly for the land to the rail company. It does make me rethink Singapore's model of public transportation and the excessive fear of large commercial quantums at MRT stations.

Train Schedules and Capsule Hotels
What is unexpected for a country that relies so intensively on its rail infrastructure is that most train services stop around midnight. Thus, clubs and pubs would stay open well into the morning for clients to wait in so that they can catch the first train in the morning. This was what Tsu and Mari did on their wedding night.

This practice has also spawn off a whole industry of motels and capsule hotels that charge hourly rates. Salarymen, out for a night of izakaya (drunken reverly with colleagues), take advantage of these places as shelter for a night. Most of these places only cater to male clientele, and having stayed in one in Tokyo, I am glad to say that they are largely clean and well-maintained and have a fraternal dorm-like feel to them. (Another surprise: Most pachinko parlors close at 11pm.)

Of course taking a taxi in Tokyo is out of the question for most of these salarymen. The taxi meter starts at 760 yen which is about 7 US Dollars, and the meter ticks away rather rapidly.