Trains, bikes, and automobiles
The transportation system here is really quite remarkable compared to ours at home. It is hard to comprehend how they organize the spider web network of trains, subways and buses. There are local trains that stop at every station, rapid trains that pass some of them by and get going a little faster, and special rapid trains that pass by even more of them and get going faster yet. How they switch them all back and forth among the different tracks and station platforms so that they don’t run into each other is a mystery to me. It also amazes me how close the connections are. Many times you can walk off one train and right on to your connecting train. If you miss it, no worries (Australian for no problem). There will be another along in about 10 minutes. In addition to all these, there are the bullet trains which run on their own tracks. Carla assures me these can run at up to 300 kmph, although they do not always do so for various reasons.
What do you do while riding the train for an hour or so? A few of us, Celeste and I included, people watch and look out the windows. But if you are a local who rides almost every day, I can see that you interested would wane. So, most people do one of three other things. Many play with their cell phones. I don’t know if they are playing games or sending and receiving text messages, but they stare at them pretty intently. Many others read. And about 1/3 sleep. Slumped over, sitting up, even standing! I would be scared to death of missing my station and waking up 100 miles away in the wrong direction. But Carla and Tyler say you get accustomed to the time it takes and always seem to wake up in time.
Trains are great if you live near a station, but what if you don’t? There are buses, but we haven’t experienced them. The most popular solution is your old fashioned single speed coaster bike. Here is a small sample of the bikes parked around Carla and Tyler’s small station. Note that one of them uses two levels to squeeze more in and avoid getting them tangled together. Sometimes they are above ground and 
sometimes below. I saw one full bike parking lot as big as about 4 or 5 of our city lots. It is quite striking to observe a distinguished looking business man pedaling his way to or from the station while carrying his briefcase. Carla says distinguished looking ladies in high heels carrying a briefcase and umbrella are even more interesting. There are a few scooters around, but not too many.
There are cars around, but it seems that the people who have them don’t use them that much when they have all these other alternatives. The residential streets that we have seen are usually only single lane, although there are certainly some very wide and busy streets in the downtown areas and there are expressways. Parking is a challenge, both at home and wherever you might drive to. When we were in Himeji we saw a live demonstration of something Carla and Tyler had described to us. It is like a Ferris wheel, but vertically oblong instead of round. When one side goes up, the other goes down, like two opposing elevators. A car drives on to the bottom level and is warehoused somewhere in the stack by rotating the whole stack. When it is time to retrieve it, the stack is rotated again until it is at the bottom. It is kind of like the clothes rack at the dry cleaners, but vertical. Quite interesting to watch. They also have other methods of using lifts to store cars on parking shelves for the day.
What do you do while riding the train for an hour or so? A few of us, Celeste and I included, people watch and look out the windows. But if you are a local who rides almost every day, I can see that you interested would wane. So, most people do one of three other things. Many play with their cell phones. I don’t know if they are playing games or sending and receiving text messages, but they stare at them pretty intently. Many others read. And about 1/3 sleep. Slumped over, sitting up, even standing! I would be scared to death of missing my station and waking up 100 miles away in the wrong direction. But Carla and Tyler say you get accustomed to the time it takes and always seem to wake up in time.
Trains are great if you live near a station, but what if you don’t? There are buses, but we haven’t experienced them. The most popular solution is your old fashioned single speed coaster bike. Here is a small sample of the bikes parked around Carla and Tyler’s small station. Note that one of them uses two levels to squeeze more in and avoid getting them tangled together. Sometimes they are above ground and 
sometimes below. I saw one full bike parking lot as big as about 4 or 5 of our city lots. It is quite striking to observe a distinguished looking business man pedaling his way to or from the station while carrying his briefcase. Carla says distinguished looking ladies in high heels carrying a briefcase and umbrella are even more interesting. There are a few scooters around, but not too many.
There are cars around, but it seems that the people who have them don’t use them that much when they have all these other alternatives. The residential streets that we have seen are usually only single lane, although there are certainly some very wide and busy streets in the downtown areas and there are expressways. Parking is a challenge, both at home and wherever you might drive to. When we were in Himeji we saw a live demonstration of something Carla and Tyler had described to us. It is like a Ferris wheel, but vertically oblong instead of round. When one side goes up, the other goes down, like two opposing elevators. A car drives on to the bottom level and is warehoused somewhere in the stack by rotating the whole stack. When it is time to retrieve it, the stack is rotated again until it is at the bottom. It is kind of like the clothes rack at the dry cleaners, but vertical. Quite interesting to watch. They also have other methods of using lifts to store cars on parking shelves for the day.
posted by Celeste at
7:28 a.m.
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