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Japan Keeps This Defunct Train Station Running for Just One Passenger

citylab.com

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Re: Japan Keeps This Defunct Train Station Running for Just One Passenger

#121

Post by Paradigma11 »

rangibaby wrote: post #95
hkmurakami wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The thing is, they (the headline) say "Japan", but this only happened because it's way out in the countryside where people have a "village mentality" of helping each other out (but the trade off is that everyone sticks their nose in your business). Japan railways itself split into several separate companies upon privatization. This would never happen in Tokyo. As much as we think of the country as being monolithic (i…

> Tokyo is a place where a train being 2 minutes late causes ire (and a train conductor once killed himself for a mistake as trivial as this). The driver going too fast from being late was the cause of a (100+ fatalities) train accident about 10 years ago. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amagasaki_rail_crash > It's a place where if a person jumps into the train to kill themselves, many will curse under their breaths…

Does the bill really go to the family or to the jumpers assets/inheritance?

Re: Japan Keeps This Defunct Train Station Running for Just One Passenger

#122

Post by Radim »

jobu wrote: post #53
hkmurakami wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Generally speaking, the population of Japan is going down and the population of the Greater Tokyo area is going up. Once youth hits college or working age, they disproportionately head for the capitol. But then there's a small counter current where younger (say, 30's) are moving back to their original prefectures as they realize that they might be able to afford a better QoL making less money but also paying much les…

With the country’s record-low birthrate, aging population, and the threat of losing a third of its population by 2060, Japan faces a number of crises... It will be interesting to see how this plays out in the next few decades. Many European countries have similar problems with low fertility rates, but Japan has the additional disadvantage of being extremely xenophobic. While other countries may be able to bolster the…

Your harsh judgements of Japan's trajectory make assumptions that are not evidently true (to me).

What do you mean, "problems with low fertility"? That looks a highly desirable outcome to me, a blessing in disguise.

Sure, most governments run Ponzi-like schemes and depend on "exponential growth" all around to finance themselves (pensions), but that's an economic snafu. Ultimately unsustainable in any case.

Not sure where this mentality of "more is always better" comes from. You could argue Japan would still be overpopulated even at half its current population.

Random thought: being "extremely xenophobic" seems desirable (necessary?) for such reversal process to stand a chance. Otherwise the country would be overrun by people who simply procreate more (aka race to the bottom when it comes to quality of life). Should maximum procreation trump everything else?

Re: Japan Keeps This Defunct Train Station Running for Just One Passenger

#123

Post by 7952 »

desdiv wrote: post #39

>“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…

In Britain there are also 150 odd request stops that you have to flag the train down.

Re: Japan Keeps This Defunct Train Station Running for Just One Passenger

#124

Post by sien »

hkmurakami wrote: post #66
jobu wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

With the country’s record-low birthrate, aging population, and the threat of losing a third of its population by 2060, Japan faces a number of crises... It will be interesting to see how this plays out in the next few decades. Many European countries have similar problems with low fertility rates, but Japan has the additional disadvantage of being extremely xenophobic. While other countries may be able to bolster the…

I completely (and unfortunately) agree. This population pattern manifests in so many countries. The United States would be in this situation if not for our immigration inflow. South Korea actually has an even lower birthrate than Japan. China has a smaller population base in its youth vs its middle aged segment as a result of their one child policy [1]. I wonder... will all developed nations engage in a war for produ…

The places where the immigrants are coming from are getting richer and their birth rates are dropping so there won't be enough immigrants to grow developed nations' populations.

People will just have to learn to run countries with a stable population.

Re: Japan Keeps This Defunct Train Station Running for Just One Passenger

#125

Post by morgante »

im2w1l wrote: post #86
TeMPOraL wrote: post #58

Earlier 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.

I certainly found it heartwarming and I bet the majority of people who read this did as well. Otherwise how would it be on the front page?

Re: Japan Keeps This Defunct Train Station Running for Just One Passenger

#126

Post by morgante »

United857 wrote: post #71
verroq wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is great irony that it is posted on CCTV's Facebook page. Given that 99% of their audience can't access Facebook.

Plus the fact that China and Japan have never had the best of relations to begin with.

When you consider that the purpose of CCTV's Facebook page is promoting their image abroad, it makes sense.

Re: Japan Keeps This Defunct Train Station Running for Just One Passenger

#127

Post by aianus »

hkmurakami wrote: post #26
TeMPOraL wrote: post #13

Lovely 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…

The thing is, they (the headline) say "Japan", but this only happened because it's way out in the countryside where people have a "village mentality" of helping each other out (but the trade off is that everyone sticks their nose in your business). Japan railways itself split into several separate companies upon privatization. This would never happen in Tokyo. As much as we think of the country as being monolithic (i…

> It's a place where young mothers with strollers are given stinkeye on public transit.

This happens everywhere. It's extremely rude (especially at rush hour) to take up 5x the space of everyone else just cause you have a kid. Either the kid is small enough to carry or big enough to stand.

Re: Japan Keeps This Defunct Train Station Running for Just One Passenger

#128

Post by accpass09 »

Japan need mass third world immigration, you can't stay so homogenus for this long. Not acceptable for a first world country to do. They must take responsibility like Sweden, there is war now and they must accept refugees from Syria and rest of the middle east.

Re: Japan Keeps This Defunct Train Station Running for Just One Passenger

#129

Post by k__ »

accpass09 wrote: post #128

Japan need mass third world immigration, you can't stay so homogenus for this long. Not acceptable for a first world country to do. They must take responsibility like Sweden, there is war now and they must accept refugees from Syria and rest of the middle east.

On the other hand it's a good big scale experiment.

Lets wait 20-40 years and see who got it worse.

Re: Japan Keeps This Defunct Train Station Running for Just One Passenger

#130

Post by krapp »

mback00 wrote: post #73

Please use Occam's razor: student that can maintain her anonymity in the face of this report + bureacracy that maintains a service for /one/ person = Political connections

Occam's Razor would imply someone with "political connections" would have the wherewithal for more convenient alternatives, such as moving closer to school.
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