Tokyo by Train
December 9, 2016 2:45 PM   Subscribe

Spend an entire day riding trains and trams all over Tokyo.
posted by Foci for Analysis (17 comments total) 40 users marked this as a favorite
 
As someone who would love to travel more but can't, I love stuff like this. Thank you for posting it.
posted by 4ster at 2:55 PM on December 9, 2016


"Spend an entire day riding trains and—"

OK!!!! /runs out door before watching video
posted by Celsius1414 at 3:02 PM on December 9, 2016 [7 favorites]


I'll start:

Jif like the peanut butter? common!!
posted by humboldt32 at 3:09 PM on December 9, 2016 [1 favorite]


The guy's voice and manner (appropriately enough) has a real Rick Steves quality.
posted by AlonzoMosleyFBI at 3:10 PM on December 9, 2016


Life Where I'm From was discussed on MetaFilter a couple of months ago... charming family, awesome website.
posted by My Dad at 3:12 PM on December 9, 2016 [1 favorite]


Yup. This is their side channel which also has lots of neat stuff.
posted by Foci for Analysis at 3:26 PM on December 9, 2016 [1 favorite]


This is like my favourite for a while, considering my bizarre fetish for Japanese railways (where I've seen a lot of those commuter train cab videos and played both A-Train and the Japanese set on OpenTTD which is my default setting). It's not the high-speed trains - it's those commuter trains that seem to run through people's backyards into very small stations. I wish we had that instead of hoping everyone got everywhere by car/bus or whatever.
posted by lmfsilva at 3:44 PM on December 9, 2016 [2 favorites]


I wish we had that instead of hoping everyone got everywhere by car/bus or whatever.

I am a Japanese train nerd and actually get paid to write about them sometimes. So... yes! Unfortunately, in North America, except for some parts of the northeast in the United States there just is not the population density to support such train lines.

Indeed, train lines are going extinct in much of Japan outside of Tokyo and the big cities of the Pacific seaboard. There are not enough people, and people in regional Japan rely on buses and cars (that said, many, many mid-size regional cities have trams, as Portland does in the US).

The introduction of high-speed rail in regional and rural Japan is also stressing the local train lines, which used to generate revenue from express trains that were part of the local rail service. The bullet trains are run under separate companies now, and the rolling stock of regional train lines is typically operated under a money-losing P3 arrangement.

So the future of commuter rail in Japan outside of Tokyo and the bigger cities is not looking so good :(
posted by My Dad at 3:53 PM on December 9, 2016 [7 favorites]


Spend an entire day riding trains and trams all over Tokyo.

*sweats loudly*
posted by gc at 4:06 PM on December 9, 2016 [2 favorites]


Yeah, in Tokyo rail is awesome and I never use anything else (very occasionally I use a bus, never taxi/etc). In Yamanashi rail is really only good for going to/from other prefectures, local transit is by personal automobile for most people (or bus, but bus service/coverage is pretty meh).
posted by thefoxgod at 4:14 PM on December 9, 2016 [2 favorites]


That was very impressive, all that very smooth, almost steadycam quality video. I thought he was buying an awful lot of drinks till I remembered how small servings are. And he rode around all day for ~$50. How much would that cost in London?
posted by Bee'sWing at 4:29 PM on December 9, 2016


Automatic underground bicycle parking.
posted by bertran at 5:08 PM on December 9, 2016 [4 favorites]


Very enjoyable. He sounds a lot like Light Yagami from Death Note.
posted by Mei's lost sandal at 6:30 PM on December 9, 2016


So relevant to my interests. Pardon me while I weep for the state of American public transit...
posted by en forme de poire at 9:58 PM on December 9, 2016 [2 favorites]


I don't even like trains, and will actively avoid them here in the UK. But the 3 weeks I spent exploring Japan by rail is one of the few trips that I crave redoing. Such an fascinating place.

Great video. The music, pacing and framing really worked for me. Thanks for the share.
posted by samworm at 11:48 PM on December 9, 2016 [1 favorite]


^ I lived in Tokyo for most of the 90s and also want to do the 3 week Japan rail pass deal.

Never got west of Kyoto or north of Sendai so there's still lots to see.
posted by Heywood Mogroot III at 11:56 AM on December 10, 2016


> How much would that cost in London?

The daily Zone 1-9 cap is 16.90 GBP (~22 USD)
posted by doiheartwentyone at 6:47 AM on December 11, 2016


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