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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

#151

Post by ekianjo »

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…

> It's a place where if a person jumps into the train to kill themselves, many will curse under their breaths about being late to work.

And honestly if you want to kill yourself you dont HAVE to jump before a train. You can do it in other ways without bothering anyone.

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

#152

Post by lentil_soup »

Radim wrote: post #122
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…

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…

the problem is when population has negative growth, that means less working people need to mantain more old people ... and it gets worse with time

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

#153

Post by seivan »

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…

Japan is very homogenous so it's easy to see everyone as family. Not just racially, but also culturally. Though from what I heard, there are some issues with Osaka(?).

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

#154

Post by TeMPOraL »

vinceguidry wrote: post #149
TeMPOraL wrote: post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Could you elaborate on that distinction? I definitely do not understand it, but I would like to.

An estate is simply the legal term given to the net worth a person has after they die. There's a legal process that allocates the dead person's resources according to various factors. Generally a person's debts will be satisfied first. Then whatever's left gets divided according to the person's will, if any. If there is no will, a judge will divide assets up amongst surviving relatives. If there is nothing left after…

Thanks for the clarification and the article! The latter is definitely worth a top-level submission here.

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

#155

Post by empath75 »

sandworm101 wrote: post #7

Only 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…

Japan should open the door to more immigration. I'd be happy to move out to rural Japan.

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

#156

Post by funkyy »

TeMPOraL wrote: post #63
hkmurakami wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Upon reflection, I want to apologize for the overly pessimistic and harsh tone I chose to use. Japan is almost always presented to the West from a unbalanced, exaggerated perspective (which has irked me in the past), and upon reading your post, gleaming with optimism, I instinctively reacted by adopting an exaggeratedly grave perspective to attempt to balance it out -- which in retrospect was simply uncalled for. Tha…

> Upon reflection, I want to apologize for the overly pessimistic and harsh tone I chose to use. No worries. Your points were fair and your tone wasn't harsh. > Thanks for your optimism and hope for the good in all of us. I could use some of that too. I try. And it's hard, too. But I think we need to do it, we need to learn to refocus on positive things, because our own attitudes on individual and social level form a…

Such a nice conversation is possible only on HN I believe lately.

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

#157

Post by c3534l »

hkmurakami wrote: post #17
c3534l wrote: post #14

Wouldn't it be both cheaper, and friendlier to the environment to hire a person chauffeur for her? This is outrageously inefficient. Public transport only becomes worth it when it achieves relatively high ridership.

This station is on an existing, operational line that would run trains on the tracks even if she weren't there (and this is what is going to happen once she graduates). So the marginal cost of stopping at this station is actually not that large.

I was under the impression that it was the line that was underused, not just a stop on the line. I suppose that makes things pretty different, especially since I think Japanese lines tend to go out farther to pick people up in general.

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

#159

Post by ue_ »

empath75 wrote: post #155
sandworm101 wrote: post #7

Only 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…

Japan should open the door to more immigration. I'd be happy to move out to rural Japan.

Likewise. It's been a bit of a dream for me.

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

#160

Post by occamrazor »

kwhitefoot wrote: post #147
Joeri wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The rail operator will also send a large bill to the jumpers family. Isn't this the case in most countries? I suspect they do it to discourage other jumpers, since if you jump you know you're saddling your family with a debt. As a society we could avoid these things if we provided a legal path to requesting to be euthanised, a legal self-determination on the end of your own life. In my country you can request it, b…

Unless the jumper is under the age of majority the family are not responsible for the debts of the deceased in any country I know of. Is it different in Japan? See http://www.nidirect.gov.uk/what-happens-to-debts-when-someon... for instance.

The family isn't, but the estate of the deceased might be.
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