Tokyo’s Muslim

I am sure that many of my readers find Japan utterly fascinating for many reasons. My fascination is never stronger than when I examine their public transportation system. The Japanese Rail system is a model which we will all have to adopt, eventually. It is clean, fast, and efficient. It may be expensive, but the additional expenses to operate cars in Japan tend to offset the annoyance of having to pay between $2 and $10 for a one-way trip.

Within Tokyo, there are many types of trains. The above is an example of the street car-like small trains, which are ideally suited for the suburbs. These providing a wonderful solution for resource-depleted Japan as they rely on electrical power rather than oil.

Train stations provide an ideal location to build a community around. The population density that results from the mass of humanity using the rails encourage local businesses. This is something that we, Montreal, do not really see around Metro stations. Almost all Rail platforms have an electronic schedule with to-the-minute information, indicating how long before the next train arrives. This is a great benefit for passengers who weigh which rail line to take.

Some people ride the rails just to experience something called “Ekiben”. This is the process of getting a lunch (bentou) from different train stations (eki). I never actually ate at one of these places, but the prices were reasonable when I was there. I did manage to try out one wonderful croissant store that was in the shopping center connected to Shin-Osaka station. To this day I think it had the best croissants I have ever eaten anywhere in the world.

Unlike the nearly zenophobic /delusional hatred some Canadians (of all linguistic groups) seem to have against bilingualism, it is a matter of life in Japan. Kanji, Hiragana and Roman characters are used to indicate the train station’s name, and all major signs are in English and Japanese. This has not endangered the Japanese language, as the Quebec locals may believe. Rather, Japanese is more widely spoken than ever before. This is probably because people actually take the time to learn languages that can be used for business purposes.

It is hard not to admire the aerodynamic curves of a Bullet Train. It is one of those “Tomorrow is here at last” moments.

It is a matter of great sadness to me that neither Canada nor the US can ever actually utilize bullet train technology. Canada’s population is far to small to ever be able to afford it. As well, we Canadians are far too cheap to ever actually pay 200-300$ for a return ticket to Toronto. The United States has more feasible locations to do so, especially between Washington DC and New York City. Unfortunately the reminants of the old train system, bureaucratic wranglings and political considerations make it all-but-impossible for Amtrack to ever build a bullet train system. The Japanese Shinkansen is a tremendous resource for businessmen, tourists, and students. Foreign Tourists can get a great deal if they buy a JR Pass which grants them full access to all trains, except for Night lines and Nozomi Shinkansen trains. The Shinkansen generally runs on a to-the-minute schedule. As a result, businessmen and students can be assured of reaching their location on time.

The Bullet train runs from the southern city of Fukuoka to the northern reaches of Japan in Hachinohe. There are rumblings within the political sphere about building a bullet-train link to the island of Hokkaido, and its main city of Sapporo. However, this is unlikely due to the cost. It might even be more cost-effective to implement a mag-lev system on the Tokaido line, something estimated in the tens of billions of dollars.

My Japanese teacher, Uesaka Sensei, warned me that the food on the train is brutally expensive. In the above shot, my friend Moe is drinking 3 dollar coffee. The same coffee would cost about 75 cents back home in Montreal. Unfortunately, this is necessary to subsidize the large costs of the train. It is my experience that people tend to close their ears and hearts when they hear the word “Subsidy”, but I wonder how many of them manage to go all the way to work on “private roads”?

Japanese trains pass along some incredible terrain. This is the Shinkansen to Hachinohe, the northern-most Bullet Train station in Japan. In my case, I had to go from the central city of Kanazawa to Sapporo. I spent 4 hours on local trains reaching Omiya station. From there, 3-4 hours on a Bullet Train, and another 4 hours on a local train – a total of 11 hours in the train, which was not a lot of fun. To contrast, this would ahve been at least a one and one half day trip in Canada (which I assure you is less fun). I must have travelled 75% of the distance on a bullet train, but 66% of the time spent was on regular / local trains.

For people who need to be somewhere in the morning, there is the night train/sleeper train. Unfortunately, I did not get much sleep in my seat. Although the seats are comfortable (and lean back a great deal), there is a loud announcer at each station who indicates the train has arrived. This happens even at a minor train stations. One of the surprising benefits of the Canadian train system over the Japanese is that the train in Canada is more of a leasure travel method. As a result, the conductors are friendlier and tend to inform passengers individually if a train is arriving at their station at night while everyone else is sleeping.

The situation may be better if you have a private sleeping compartment – I was in the cheap section unfortunately.

Japan has some diesel engines as well for smaller routes, although I believe 100% of its track is electrified. The second train, in particular, has a beautiful name – “The Lili of the Valley” (Suzuran)

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Thank you to one of my readers for pointing this out; the US does now have a functional bullet train. It is very encouraging to see that Amtrack is overcoming the bureaucratic mess that delayed its deployment for such a long time. Kudos to our southern neighbours!