Japan is exotic enough from a Western perspective that outsiders often have an exaggerated opinion of it, both positive and negative. The next time you see someone gushing about how wonderful Japan is or complaining about how the country never "paid" for WWII or how Japan is doomed because (old people, Fukushima, etc) please try to remember that it is a normal country with human beings living there that is pretty much like anywhere else in the world.
Japan Keeps This Defunct Train Station Running for Just One Passenger
101–110 of 204 posts
Re: Japan Keeps This Defunct Train Station Running for Just One Passenger
#102Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yes, there are many ways this marginal money expenditure could be put to a better use. Most of those scenarios, however, would never happen, because human organizations are nowhere near that efficient. The most likely outcome of closing the station would be the money getting distributed between organizational overhead and bumping up someone's salary a little bit. Or maybe another company project would get finished li…
Looking through the comment section, it seems you get fuzzies out it, but not the majority of people.
HN comments aren't really the place for "me too" responses, but this story gave me some warm fuzzies. It was a nice story, despite the obvious inefficiencies that'll be ending very soon anyway.
Re: Japan Keeps This Defunct Train Station Running for Just One Passenger
#103Earlier quoted context omitted.
considering the time it takes to decelerate, stop, accelerate, making this stop adds at least a full minute or minute and a half to one way journey. Everybody who is taking the train during the same leg as her, is essentially chipping in 1 minute of their time to support her transportation. And I think that's just beautiful.
Consider also the energy it takes to do those maneuvers. And that the station needs to be maintained; even though it doesn't seem to be staffed, the cost of keeping it in shape over many years was likely nonzero. I am not a train expert, but I suppose that stations require additional infrastructure - like lights and semaphores - which also needs to be maintained and regularly tested. Then you can start pricing in the…
They were already paying it though. It wasn't an additional cost they had to make. It was a cost they chose not to cut for a period of 3 years. I agree with you, it is beautiful.
Re: Japan Keeps This Defunct Train Station Running for Just One Passenger
#104Only girl in the village? They are going to close the line when she graduates. Therefore we can surmise there aren't any other younger girls. So much for having a social life. There are parts of Japan where children just aren't around anymore. Towns are becoming extended retirement homes. That's the truly depressing side of this story. At least this is happening today, when the few remaining kids in such situations c…
> That's the truly depressing side of this story. There have always been children living in isolated rural communities. Always. Japan is in no way special in this regard, nor is it special in having a low birth rate nor in it having a declining population. South Korea, for example, has a lower total fertility rate than Japan. But people love to focus on Japan and project their own values and beliefs on it, values whi…
No, Japan is unique in this regard. Yes, South Korea, China and much of Europe is following along the same trend lines, but Japan is good couple of decades ahead of everybody else and is thus the world's guinea pig for population decline:
http://www.ide.go.jp/English/Research/Region/Africa/images/1...
The lines are the country's % of working-age people. As you can see, Japan is already collapsing rapidly, while South Korea is just starting to plateau out and China is still climbing.
Re: Japan Keeps This Defunct Train Station Running for Just One Passenger
#105>“Why should I not want to die for a country like this when the government is ready to go an extra mile just for me,” one commenter wrote on CCTV’s Facebook page. “This is the meaning of good governance penetrating right to the grassroot level. Every citizen matters. No Child left behind!” Ironically, the railway is a private one, i.e. Japan Railways Hokkaido[0] is private corporation, not a government agency. And ye…
Japan Railways Hokkaido[0] is private corporation, not a government agency
Notionally. In practice, their operations are fairly minutely controlled -- sorry, "guided" -- by various levels of government, which explains, among many other things, why the JRs continue to operate tons of lines that are loss-making.
Re: Japan Keeps This Defunct Train Station Running for Just One Passenger
#106Earlier quoted context omitted.
I see it more as a neighbor helping a neighbor out in their area of expertise. Train companies are, presumably, good at running trains so the best sort of charity train companies can offer to its customers and potential customers are train services. It is a heartwarming act on top of being good PR. Similar to the way a restaurant or grocery store might donate food or a barber give free haircuts. Of course, they can a…
I'm afraid I don't see it that way at all. This sort of thing is dealt with all the time in the rural US, but in the relative absence of big government public transportation systems, the school district will get the one girl to school by negotiating a year of discounted rides (bulk purchase) from a car or van service with some reimbursement from the state. No more parties need to be involved, making it fairly efficie…
They aren't running a whole train just for her, they are just making two stops per day at a station, while otherwise they'd just skip it.
Re: Japan Keeps This Defunct Train Station Running for Just One Passenger
#107Earlier quoted context omitted.
I see it more as a neighbor helping a neighbor out in their area of expertise. Train companies are, presumably, good at running trains so the best sort of charity train companies can offer to its customers and potential customers are train services. It is a heartwarming act on top of being good PR. Similar to the way a restaurant or grocery store might donate food or a barber give free haircuts. Of course, they can a…
I'm afraid I don't see it that way at all. This sort of thing is dealt with all the time in the rural US, but in the relative absence of big government public transportation systems, the school district will get the one girl to school by negotiating a year of discounted rides (bulk purchase) from a car or van service with some reimbursement from the state. No more parties need to be involved, making it fairly efficie…
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Re: Japan Keeps This Defunct Train Station Running for Just One Passenger
#108Lovely story. Hats off to Japan Railways. I'm also happy that The Atlantic/Citylab decided to publish this story. And thanks 'hudibras for submitting it here! They say that it's the money that makes the world turn, and love only keeps it together. It would be easy for the Railways to ignore that girl. There's no economical reason to keep that station open. It's a waste of time and resources. And yet, someone decided…
I have trouble seeing it this way. The money spent running the train could save or improve many other lives instead. It's heartwarming and all, but consider the other people who are being left to die or suffer malnutrition or some other malady that could have been fixed with the resources used to get this girl to and from school. It could be argued that the hope and inspiration and good feels justify it as a utilitar…
It's not actually money spent running the train - the train would run anyway, and will continue to run - it's just a matter of whether it stops at that platform or blows through. You wouldn't think the marginal cost would be much.
Re: Japan Keeps This Defunct Train Station Running for Just One Passenger
#109Earlier quoted context omitted.
Looking through the comment section, it seems you get fuzzies out it, but not the majority of people.
HN comments aren't really the place for "me too" responses, but this story gave me some warm fuzzies. It was a nice story, despite the obvious inefficiencies that'll be ending very soon anyway.
Hmm true, can see how that could lead to a biased impression
Re: Japan Keeps This Defunct Train Station Running for Just One Passenger
#110There's a general term for these things: ghost stations ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghost_station ).
BBC covered a similar situation in Britain. One of the arguments for keeping them running: inactive lines quickly fall in to disrepair (physically or legally/procedurally), which could actually end up costing more, assuming demand is projected to increase and the line would have to be reopened. http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20150723-why-britain-has-sec...
Also, the cost of actually closing a station is not negligible. From the same article:
Closing down a line is cumbersome. There must first be a transport appraisal analysing the effect of a closure on passengers, the environment and the economy. The proposal is submitted to the Department of Transport and at that point its details must be published in the press, six months ahead of the closure. Then comes a 12-week consultation period, during which time anyone is welcome to protest; public hearings are sometimes held, especially if the closure is controversial. Then, finally, the plans are submitted to the Office of Rail and Road, who decide if the line closes.
As a result it often costs less – in terms of time, paperwork and taxpayers’ money – to keep a line running at a bare minimum.