A train ride into Japan's past |

 Kyushu is said to be the wellspring of Japanese civilization. Yet few tourists visit the southernmost of Japan's main islands. This documentary contrasts modern Japanese cities with traditional customs in the countryside.

War Bound: Onboard Ukraine’s Evacuation Train

 

As Ukraine’s railways come under attack by Russian bombs, Ira leads her crew on a rescue mission to the front line.

“I am risking my life, but I hope I will return home,” says Ira, a head train steward in the Ukrainian city of Lviv.

Ukraine’s railway system has become a lifeline for more than six million refugees fleeing Russian attacks since the war began on February 24 this year.

Courageous rail workers keep Ukraine running amid war

Ukraine's trains have played a central role in the country's defense against Russia – taking people out of harm's way and bringing in aid. They keep moving thanks to tireless railway workers who have been risking their lives.

A train ride into Japan's past

 

Kyushu is said to be the wellspring of Japanese civilization. Yet few tourists visit the southernmost of Japan's main islands. This documentary contrasts modern Japanese cities with traditional customs in the countryside.

A train ride into Japan's past | DW Documentary

 Kyushu is said to be the wellspring of Japanese civilization. Yet few tourists visit the southernmost of Japan's main islands. This documentary contrasts modern Japanese cities with traditional customs in the countryside.

A train ride into Japan's past | DW Documentary

Kyushu is said to be the wellspring of Japanese civilization. Yet few tourists visit the southernmost of Japan's main islands. This documentary contrasts modern Japanese cities with traditional customs in the countryside.
 

Wakayama to Osaka, Japan Train Cab Video HD

[4K Cab View] Rapid.[Riasu](Miyako～Morioka)

How to Use Trains in Japan | japan-guide.com

Train etiquette: top ten inconsiderate behaviors that tick Japanese train commuters off the most

Numerous train etiquette guidelines exist in Japan, and though most people follow them religiously, even the most polite of passengers can unintentionally make their fellow commuters feel uncomfortable. But what actions, exactly, would earn you an eye-roll or a shake of the head?

The Japan Private Railway Association recently gathered information from 72 railway companies and 2,686 respondents to compile an annual list of inconsiderate behaviorcommitted at stations or in trains that exasperate Japanese passengers. Let us go through the top ten offences starting from the least to the most aggravating.

10. Eating food in crowded trains (10 percent)

In a country that prioritizes quietness when riding trains, not only will incessant chewing noises upset the heck out of people, the smell from food would, too.

9. Leaving trash or empty cans lying around (14.2 percent)

Having rubbish like slippery plastic bags or food packaging around in busy stations can be potentially hazardous, particularly during peak hours when people rush to catch their next train.

8. Putting on makeup in trains (15.1 percent)

Cosmetic products may stain commuters’ clothes, not to mention subjecting passengers to watching you perform personal grooming in front of them.

7. Riding the train drunk (15.4 percent)

Drinking is an integral part of Japanese culture, but stepping into train cars feeling buzzed and potentially inconveniencing others is not.

6. Walking while using smartphones (21.5 percent)

Fiddling with smartphones while on the move may be really convenient, but getting distracted to the point of becoming a walking disaster makes this behavior one of the most dangerous and inconsiderate in people’s eyes.

5. Playing music loud enough for others to hear through headphones (23.2 percent)

Any activity disrupting silence in trains is generally frowned upon. You might just be annoying the person next to you who is trying to read a book.

4. Rude train boarding and disembarking behavior (34.3 percent)

Refusing to give way when the doors slide open is just downright inconsiderate.

3. Inappropriate seating behavior (34.5 percent)

Spreading legs wide apart to take up more room than needed, otherwise known as manspreading, is certainly very frustrating to deal with.

2. Talking in loud voices (36.9 percent)

Whether on the phone or with friends and acquaintances, this ties in with previous points where silence is golden.

1. Bag placement etiquette (37.3 percent)

Making the top spot of inconsiderate train behaviors is the way bags are held or placed by passengers in crowded trains. Specifically, 66.2 percent of respondents indicated that rucksacks carried on the back or shoulder bags slung at the side inconvenienced them, while 9 percent did not like passengers putting their belongings on seats. Another 8.3 percent even found bags placed on the floor of train cars frustrating.

JR West Issues Apology After Train Departs 25 Seconds Early

Yes, its happened again.  Japan's train company's are hitting rock bottom.  Letting trains leave 25 seconds early last week and the Tsukuba Express departing 20 seconds early in November.

Because 25 seconds early is not the same as right on time.

Japan’s trains are world-famous for their punctuality, but that doesn’t mean they always run with perfect precision. Sometimes mistakes happen, and West Japan Railways(also known as JR West) screwed up badly enough last Friday that the company felt an official apology and press release were in order.

According to the press release, on the morning of May 11, a train at Notogawa Stationin Shiga Prefecture, part of the Biwako Line, mistakenly pulled away from the platform at 7:11:35 a.m. If you think it’s a little strange to see the time written like that, rest assured that it’s not the normal way of doing things in Japan, but JR West felt it necessary in order to fully disclose the damage, as the train left 25 seconds earlier than its scheduled time of 7:12.

In its press release, JR West solemnly stated:

“The great inconvenience we placed upon our customers was truly inexcusable.”

New study ranks most notorious Japanese train stations for perverts

In Japan, the word fushinsha literally translates to “suspicious person“, and is commonly used by police as a catch-all term to describe voyeurs, flashers and chikan gropers who usually commit acts of sexual harassment in public, often on public transport.

According to JASPIC, 11,607 incidents were officially recorded from March to October this year, with 4,487 reports occurring in the proximity of train stations. The following 25 stations were identified as being the most notorious for suspicious persons, with nine cases recorded at each one.

• Shin-Sapporo (Hokkaido Prefecture)
• Nagamachi-Minami (Miyagi Prefecture)
• Maebashi (Gunma Prefecture)
• Higashi-Omiya (Saitama Prefecture)
• Miyahara (Saitama Prefecture)
• Kami-Fukuoka (Saitama Prefecture)
• Kita-Toda (Saitama Prefecture)
• Kasukabe (Saitama Prefecture)
• Tokorozawa (Saitama Prefecture)
• Shiki (Saitama Prefecture)
• Tozuka-Angyo (Saitama Prefecture)
• Nishi-Kawaguchi (Saitama Prefecture)
• Honjo (Saitama Prefecture)
• Ikuta (Kanagawa Prefecture)
• Noborito (Kanagawa Prefecture)
• Mukogaoka-Yuen (Kanagawa Prefecture)
• Shizuoka (Shizuoka Prefecture)
• Hamamatsu (Shizuoka Prefecture)
• Komyoike (Osaka Prefecture)
• Yamato-Saidaiji (Nara Prefecture)
• Kobe-Sannomiya (Hyogo Prefecture)
• HyogoHimeji ( Prefecture)
• Okayama (Okayama Prefecture)
• Hiroshima (Hiroshima Prefecture)
• Meinohama (Fukuoka Prefecture)

Prefectural Ranking

Looking at the wider picture, taking into account the total reports of suspicious persons from each prefecture, reveals the following results.

1. Saitama (1,711)
2. Osaka (1,227)
3. Aichi (989)
4. Tokyo (969)
5. Hyogo (923)
6. Hokkaido (717)
7. Shizuoka (687)
8. Kanagawa (537)
9. Fukuoka (508)
10. Miyagi (426)
11. Hiroshima (382)
12. Kyoto (362)
13. Chiba (241)
14. Okayama (149)

Tokyo’s Most Notorious Stations

• Akitsu, Higashimurayma City (8 reports)
• Kita-Senju, Adachi Ward (7 reports)
• Hachioji, Hachioji City (6 reports)
• Araiyakushi-Mae, Nakano Ward (6 reports)
• Higashi-Jujo, Kita Ward (6 reports)
• Jujo, Kita Ward (6 reports)
• Umejima, Adachi Ward (6 reports)
• Mizue, Edogawa Ward (6 reports)
• Ogikubo, Suginami Ward (6 reports)
• Nishi-Kasai, Edogawa Ward (6 reports)

Hypnotic moving map of Tokyo’s crazy rush hour trains almost makes them relaxing

There’s definitely a beauty to the controlled chaos of the morning commute in Japan’s capital.

If you were going to describe the Tokyo morning commute in a single word, “crowded” would definitely be the one to use. This is, after all, the place where you might need multiple station attendants to help push the passengers far enough into the carriage for the doors to shut.

However, it’s not just the trains that are crowded at rush hour, but the tracks too. During the busiest part of the morning, it’s not unusual for trains to be less than five minutes apart on the most heavily used lines, and none are more heavily used than Japan Railways’ Yamanote Line, which loops around downtown Tokyo. To illustrate just how many trains are rolling along the Yamanote during peak commuting hours, Japanese YouTube user badger has put together this animated map of a typical morning for the central Tokyo train network, with the Yamanote Line (山手線) marked in bright green.

TrainSpotting In China

China's 'train hunter' on a quest to chronicle its fast-expanding railways

Wang Wei has spent 10 years travelling all over China to photograph trains and new lines, but can he keep up with the incredible pace of the country’s rail boom?

Armed with his trusty Nikon camera, Wang Wei has hiked up to the frosty Tibetan plateau and across the Gobi desert; he has journeyed to a tropical island in the South China Sea and to China’s remote border with Pakistan – all to satisfy his inexplicable urge to photograph trains.

“I never get tired. You don’t get tired if you are doing something you feel truly passionate about,” says Wang, who at 24 has already built a personal archive of hundreds of thousands of photographs of trains.

China’s No 1 trainspotter, who grew up just next to Beijing’s Xizhimen station and still lives with his parents, believes he was born with a fascination for ferroequinology.

Since that pre-Olympic push began, China has built the world’s longest and fastest high-speed rail routes, using sleek white bullet trains to slash the distances between mega-cities including Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou.

In just over seven years, about 11,800 miles (19,000km) of high-speed track – about 55% of the global total – has been laid. “What the world did in half-a-century, we have done in 10 years,” said Zhao Jian, a transport expert from Jiaotong University in Beijing.

While China has expanded its railway system there is one difference in how they have addressed safety and reliability as compared to Japan.  The last passenger train derailment in Japan was more than 10 years ago. When a motorman working for JR West and behind schedule took a train at speed into curve in western Osaka resulting in several hundred deaths.  The Shinkansen which has been in operation for 51 years has never been involved in any fatal accident.  

Lockers at some JR, subway stations in Tokyo off limits during Obama's visit

The Tokyo Metropolitan Police said Thursday that coin lockers at 14 JR train stations and some subway stations will be closed as part of anti-terror security measures before and during the visit to Japan of U.S. President Barack Obama next week.

Obama is due to arrive in Japan on April 23 and leave on April 25.

Lockers at 10 major JR stations such as Tokyo, Shinjuku and Shibuya will not be accessible to the public from April 22-25. JR East said some 4,700 lockers will be closed. Officials said anyone currently using lockers must retrieve their belongings by April 21, Fuji TV reported.

As everyone knows the President of the United States doesn't travel by motorcade when visiting other countries he takes the train.   That's why they haul the presidential limousine all over the world so that President Obama can ride the train.