And so we wrap up our coverage of Gordon Price’s study trip, covering Hong Kong, Tokyo and Kyoto over the past three weeks. You can see all his posted pics on his Instagram account.
In his last full day, he shares some additional musings on high-speed rail logistics (and cityscapes), ‘Little Differences’ between Japanese and North American urban culture, and some final thoughts on economic and demographic change in Japan over the past generation that will yield further discussion upon his return. Enjoy…
I’m not sure what facilities exits on current bullet trains (or elsewhere), but when I visited Japan in 1993, I would always look for a handicapped toilet to find a Western-style toilet rather than a squat toilet. I managed to never have used a squat toilet for my entire trip.
I thought I’d pass along this video. It was done by a family from Vancouver who moved to Tokyo. And in it, they compare their quality of life.
1. Some weather reports in Japan include whether or not clothes are likely to dry. Unlike in Vancouver, the humidity can be high enough that clothes don’t dry in a day.
2. The payment system for buses are quite inconsistent. Within the same area, there can be multiple bus companies with different fare structures. For example, I’ve seen all of
a) Pay when you get off
b) Pay when you get on
c) Tap your card both on and off (something that Translink could not accomplish
d) Pay when you get on, but first you must tell the bus driver the stop you are getting off so they can set the correct fare amount for you to tap your card.