Superior Transportation

One of the advantages of having another country bomb you into oblivion (France, Germany, England, Austria, Korea, Japan) is that you get the chance to have a clean slate. Consider Salzburg, Austria... half the city was wiped out, so they built it new. It looks nice! Or consider Tokyo... the Americans firebombed it, which is kind of a big deal since the buildings were made of paper and wood. Of course, the list goes on and on and on. As a friend of mine pointed out, the Japanese have rebuilt themselves after WW2 into a civilized nation, and in no place does this stand out more than in the superior Japanese Transport system. It is modern, clean and efficient.




First go to the machine and use the touch screen to buy your ticket. Above the computer screens are maps with the names of the stops along the route in Japanese and Romanji (English spelling).



Here is Mariko with two 180 yen tickets. You put the tickets into a machine as you walk to the train platforms and again when you leave the train platform after making your trip. If there is a problem with your ticket (i.e. You don't have enough funds) the machine will block you by opening up a couple of little doors in front of you. There are agents who will assist you if you need help changing your ticket. As you leave the train platform, the ticket machines collect your ticket and don't give it back to you.