Transportation in Japan
In the previous entry titled "Transportation", I have written a little bit about Japanese transportation system.
In the states, many people use cars as primary transportation, but in Japan, many people use trains/subways as primary transportation especially to commute.
When I was in Japan and working, I usually woke up at 5am,took shower,had breakfast, and ran to the station to catch the train. Then, I spent one hour standing in the crowd in the train,and rode subway once I got to the city,and walked to the work place. Commuting was such a tiring time.
How tiring it would be? You can see what I mean if you watch the youtube video clip of Japanese commuting train.
Japanese commuting train..
If you are a blog subscriber or reading from facebook,please click here to watch the video.
Some people use trains to go to school,some use to go to work,some use for general transportation to get to destination for vacation trip.
If you ride trains in rush hours,you would feel like you are being pushed by everyone from every corners you can imagine. Trains run on schedule and, they don't encounter traffic jam you would encounter over in US when you commute by cars. However,when big typhoons,or heavy snow hit areas, then,trains' schedule get messed up.
When you ride a train, there are 3 kinds of local trains.
One is the train that stops every station from station A to station B. The trains are called "Fu-tsu-u De-n-sha"."Fu-tsu-u" means "ordinary" in Japanese. "De-n-sha" means "trains" in Japanese.
Another one is the train that has reserved seats for first couple of train, and latter trains attached to it are without reservation seat. This type of train stops only major stations and passes some other stations to get to the station B. The trains are called "Tok-kyu-u- reshha",and it means limited express train.
Last one is called "Kyu-kou ressha", and it means express train. The trains have no reserved seats and,it stops at major stations with some little less major stations to get to the destination station B.
Once you get to the city like in Tokyo, Nagoya, Osaka etc, you will find the subways to get around the cities.
At the train station, you will find a platform number, station name that has previous station name and next station name written, big clock, and also you will find big timetable that shows time for the next train with destination station name hung from ceiling.
Then, usually, you will find a few station attendants in uniform with white gloves and often times whistle on the platform, directing trains, and if you got lost, you can ask them which trains to take etc.They should help you.
On the platform, you will see the white lines on edge. It is there to keep the passengers from standing too close to the trains, and also, you will find dotted yellow lines on the platform. The dotted yellow lines are there to keep visually impaired people safe and not let them stand too close to the train.
Other things you would find at the train's platform in Japan are water fountains,benches, and trash bins that you would need to toss your trash into appropriate bin; some are for aluminum cans, some are for newspapers, some are for other things. Not all the trash goes into the same trash cans. You need to separate them.
Some stations have vending machines that you can get canned soda,beer,sake, canned hot or iced coffee etc.
Now and then, I see vending machines in the states, but strangely, despite the love of coffee I feel here in the states, I have never seen canned coffee or hot and cold choice in drinks in the vending machine choice. I wonder why you cannot get canned hot/iced coffee here in the states from the vending machines... I would imagine, if people could buy a can of coffee from vending machine, they might sell quite good
In Japan, you can find vending machine quite easily. What they are like? You will find out in the youtube video clip bellow.
Japanese vending machine..
If you are a blog subscriber or reading from facebook,please click here to watch the video.
Along side the vending machine, often times, you will find Kiosk at the station in Japan.You can buy newspapers,magazines, drinks,sweets etc..
One thing that is different from Japanese train station is that,every stations in Japan has bathroom and you do not need to get out from the station just to go to bathroom.
As side note, I came across jaw dropping vending machine youtube video. What does it offer? Well, pizza! Pizza vending machine. People invent all kinds of things, but pizza vending machine?
Video says,it takes under 3 minutes from start to finish, and single pizza would cost around $10. Would you like the vending machine pizza better than pizza made by real human and served to you right out from the oven? Which do you prefer?
Pizza vending machine..
If you are a blog subscriber or reading from facebook,please click here to watch the video.
Here is my Italian chicken pizza I have made recently.. It got sun dried tomato, shredded chicken,red onion,basil, mozzarella cheese,and Parmesan cheese. It is about 17"x 11" size.
Italian chicken pizza..
Italian chicken pizza on the plate..
It is time consuming to make a pizza from scratch and,torture our stumpy dog Palette's nose for hours while it is poofing, but it tastes fresh,and tasty and most of all, making from scratch is quite economical way to serve your family.
For me, pizza vending machine is interesting as an idea but, costly and probably limited for fresh ingredients and herbs. So, I would stick to my hand made pizza to enjoy pizza night.
In the states, many people use cars as primary transportation, but in Japan, many people use trains/subways as primary transportation especially to commute.
When I was in Japan and working, I usually woke up at 5am,took shower,had breakfast, and ran to the station to catch the train. Then, I spent one hour standing in the crowd in the train,and rode subway once I got to the city,and walked to the work place. Commuting was such a tiring time.
How tiring it would be? You can see what I mean if you watch the youtube video clip of Japanese commuting train.
Japanese commuting train..
If you are a blog subscriber or reading from facebook,please click here to watch the video.
Some people use trains to go to school,some use to go to work,some use for general transportation to get to destination for vacation trip.
If you ride trains in rush hours,you would feel like you are being pushed by everyone from every corners you can imagine. Trains run on schedule and, they don't encounter traffic jam you would encounter over in US when you commute by cars. However,when big typhoons,or heavy snow hit areas, then,trains' schedule get messed up.
When you ride a train, there are 3 kinds of local trains.
One is the train that stops every station from station A to station B. The trains are called "Fu-tsu-u De-n-sha"."Fu-tsu-u" means "ordinary" in Japanese. "De-n-sha" means "trains" in Japanese.
Another one is the train that has reserved seats for first couple of train, and latter trains attached to it are without reservation seat. This type of train stops only major stations and passes some other stations to get to the station B. The trains are called "Tok-kyu-u- reshha",and it means limited express train.
Last one is called "Kyu-kou ressha", and it means express train. The trains have no reserved seats and,it stops at major stations with some little less major stations to get to the destination station B.
Once you get to the city like in Tokyo, Nagoya, Osaka etc, you will find the subways to get around the cities.
At the train station, you will find a platform number, station name that has previous station name and next station name written, big clock, and also you will find big timetable that shows time for the next train with destination station name hung from ceiling.
Then, usually, you will find a few station attendants in uniform with white gloves and often times whistle on the platform, directing trains, and if you got lost, you can ask them which trains to take etc.They should help you.
On the platform, you will see the white lines on edge. It is there to keep the passengers from standing too close to the trains, and also, you will find dotted yellow lines on the platform. The dotted yellow lines are there to keep visually impaired people safe and not let them stand too close to the train.
Other things you would find at the train's platform in Japan are water fountains,benches, and trash bins that you would need to toss your trash into appropriate bin; some are for aluminum cans, some are for newspapers, some are for other things. Not all the trash goes into the same trash cans. You need to separate them.
Some stations have vending machines that you can get canned soda,beer,sake, canned hot or iced coffee etc.
Now and then, I see vending machines in the states, but strangely, despite the love of coffee I feel here in the states, I have never seen canned coffee or hot and cold choice in drinks in the vending machine choice. I wonder why you cannot get canned hot/iced coffee here in the states from the vending machines... I would imagine, if people could buy a can of coffee from vending machine, they might sell quite good
In Japan, you can find vending machine quite easily. What they are like? You will find out in the youtube video clip bellow.
Japanese vending machine..
If you are a blog subscriber or reading from facebook,please click here to watch the video.
Along side the vending machine, often times, you will find Kiosk at the station in Japan.You can buy newspapers,magazines, drinks,sweets etc..
One thing that is different from Japanese train station is that,every stations in Japan has bathroom and you do not need to get out from the station just to go to bathroom.
As side note, I came across jaw dropping vending machine youtube video. What does it offer? Well, pizza! Pizza vending machine. People invent all kinds of things, but pizza vending machine?
Video says,it takes under 3 minutes from start to finish, and single pizza would cost around $10. Would you like the vending machine pizza better than pizza made by real human and served to you right out from the oven? Which do you prefer?
Pizza vending machine..
If you are a blog subscriber or reading from facebook,please click here to watch the video.
Here is my Italian chicken pizza I have made recently.. It got sun dried tomato, shredded chicken,red onion,basil, mozzarella cheese,and Parmesan cheese. It is about 17"x 11" size.
Italian chicken pizza..
Italian chicken pizza on the plate..
It is time consuming to make a pizza from scratch and,torture our stumpy dog Palette's nose for hours while it is poofing, but it tastes fresh,and tasty and most of all, making from scratch is quite economical way to serve your family.
For me, pizza vending machine is interesting as an idea but, costly and probably limited for fresh ingredients and herbs. So, I would stick to my hand made pizza to enjoy pizza night.
Posted by yassy at 6/26/2011 3:20 PM 
Categories: Japan
Tags: Japan transportation train vending machine
Categories: Japan
Tags: Japan transportation train vending machine
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