The Japan Times Online - Tokyo's ring of steel
This is an interesting article about the Tokyo loop train line, the Yamanote Line. If ever you spend a day in Tokyo, there is every chance you will use this line. Some extracts that catch the eye:
With an estimated daily ridership of between 3 million and 5 million passengers, the Yamanote Line is easily on a par with New York City's entire subway system, which daily shuttles around 4.8 million passengers through no fewer than 468 stations.
[And just to clarify here: the Yamanote Line is but one of several different train lines that service Tokyo. This must mean that the total passenger number for Tokyo must way outstrip New York.]
None is more unwelcome than the chaos that ensues when someone ends it all by jumping in front of an oncoming train. Last year there were 18 so-called jinshin jiko (human accidents), JR East spokesman Koichi Ueno said in an assertion which may surprise many regular users, for whom announcements of jinshin jiko delays seem far more frequent. According to officials, most jinshin jiko are suicides...
Suicide delays generally last about 30 minutes, but can go much longer. JR East bills families of suicide jumpers for damages, with the requested amount commensurate with how many train lines are affected and for how long, said Shunichi Sekiguchi, another spokesman. Officials adamantly refused to discuss exact figures or the company's rationale for the policy.
Can you just imagine the reaction in the West to such a policy?
Train stations in big Japanese cities are just amazing places to be. The main Tokyo station is a particularly daunting complex, but deeply impressive in its complexity, huge flow of humanity, and convenience. (It has good shops, good food, lots of coin lockers, and (in one area in particular) really nice toilets. (Sorry, I have mentioned the toilet bit in a previous post.)
I also usually find myself wondering just how disastrous an earthquake would be in this station. (Short answer: extremely.)
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