Why Japan has such good railways • Hacker News Board

Re: Why Japan has such good railways

#101

Post by ang_cire » Sat, Apr 18, 2026, 3:21 PM UTC

SeanLuke wrote: post #46

It's generally regarded that Hong Kong has the best subway in the world. There are many reasons for this, but one cannot be overstated: Hong Kong's geography. A huge portion of the city consists of long thin urban corridors sandwiched between mountains and the sea. As a result, Hong Kong need concentrate its funding on only a few subway lines to support a huge portion of the population. This good article aside, I won…

I'm sure geography helps, but it's certainly not the driver for good train service design. Cities in Japan are definitely not laid out in thin lines, and there's not just a few routes in any given city. I was living in Nagoya back in high school, and its train lines are sprawling.

Side note, there actually isn't one shinkansen from Kagoshima to Hakodate, that route would take you on 5 different shinkansen lines: Kyushu, Sanyo, Tokaido, Tohoku, and Hokkaido. But I get your point.

Re: Why Japan has such good railways

#102

Post by mitthrowaway2 » Sat, Apr 18, 2026, 3:21 PM UTC

kemiller wrote: post #79

This is a great article, but I think it’s hard to ignore that Japan’s culture of harmony is a big part of why they were able to choose sensible regulations that benefitted everyone. We struggle to pass even the most sensible land use reforms because entrenched interests want to remain entrenched even if it hurts the system overall.

So America's culture of individual liberty is why people don't have the freedom to build whatever they want on the land that they own?

Re: Why Japan has such good railways

#103

Post by amunozo » Sat, Apr 18, 2026, 3:21 PM UTC

mschuster91 wrote: post #96

ttul wrote: post #75

“Japan’s liberal land use regulation makes it straightforward to build new neighborhoods next to railway lines, giving commuters easy access to city centers. It also enables the densification of these centers, which means that commuters have more places they want to go.” This is the most important paragraph in the article. It can’t be overstated how ingenious Japan’s system of zoning is and how much this has benefitt…

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I live a 3-minutes walk from a busy train station in Switzerland and I don't even hear the trains. I also happened to live just next to it (my windows facing the rails) and that was horrible. So it's just a matter of some space and noise barriers.

Re: Why Japan has such good railways

#104

Post by nottorp » Sat, Apr 18, 2026, 3:25 PM UTC

savanaly wrote: post #78

ttul wrote: post #75

“Japan’s liberal land use regulation makes it straightforward to build new neighborhoods next to railway lines, giving commuters easy access to city centers. It also enables the densification of these centers, which means that commuters have more places they want to go.” This is the most important paragraph in the article. It can’t be overstated how ingenious Japan’s system of zoning is and how much this has benefitt…

>how ingenious Japan’s system of zoning is I'm only barely familiar with it so I ask this in good faith: is it really ingenious or is it just more permissive? My bias/priors are that the simpler and truer statement is: it can't be overstated how beneficial more permissive zoning laws are to a society.

From what I remember, Japanese zoning allows small shops (there's a size limit) in any residential zone.

That means no car trips when you run out of bread or milk.

Smartest property of that zoning system IMO.

Re: Why Japan has such good railways

#105

Post by mschuster91 » Sat, Apr 18, 2026, 3:27 PM UTC

amunozo wrote: post #103

mschuster91 wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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I live a 3-minutes walk from a busy train station in Switzerland and I don't even hear the trains. I also happened to live just next to it (my windows facing the rails) and that was horrible. So it's just a matter of some space and noise barriers.

> So it's just a matter of some space and noise barriers.

And guess what's often hotly contested. Noise barriers tend to draw complaints because they ruin the sightline, are either ugly from the start or end up being "decorated" not by good art but quick throw tags. And landlords are often too much penny-pinchers to install decent windows unless you legally require them to, which is often impossible for already constructed buildings. The landlords don't have to live with the noise after all, and in overheated housing markets people are forced to live in what they can get.

Re: Why Japan has such good railways

#106

Post by larsiusprime » Sat, Apr 18, 2026, 3:32 PM UTC

dangus wrote: post #81

savanaly wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>how ingenious Japan’s system of zoning is I'm only barely familiar with it so I ask this in good faith: is it really ingenious or is it just more permissive? My bias/priors are that the simpler and truer statement is: it can't be overstated how beneficial more permissive zoning laws are to a society.

Sometimes permissive zoning laws don’t actually encourage positive urban development outcomes. Example: Texas Zoning has to both exist and be well-designed.

Texas zoning is only “permissive” relative to other states. Relative to Japan it’s quite restrictive.

Re: Why Japan has such good railways

#107

Post by SV_BubbleTime » Sat, Apr 18, 2026, 3:32 PM UTC

floatrock wrote: post #42

This article is dishonest about the level of privatization in the JR's. Yes, they're private companies, and they do diversification like investing in real estate around their rail cooridors to grow towns and grab people looking to do some shopping in their adjacent department store as passengers are walking through the stations. This is transit-oriented development at its best. (Also, ask google why land property lin…

It is not at all dishonest to talk about their privatization.

It’s dishonest to hand wave it away while pretending that because there are government controls for construction and financing that it would go even better if it was more government or “more hybridized”. With no source, just opinion.

No one that has ever had to switch blue to red to green in toyko just cash, buying a new ticket at each stop only to go a couple miles, has ever forgotten how privatized Japans railways are.

I expected to see comments about how good it is, how most people love it, how it’s highly privatized, and of course about how to make it better with more government.

Re: Why Japan has such good railways

#108

Post by talkingtab » Sat, Apr 18, 2026, 3:33 PM UTC

The introduction lost me. To quote: "Japan’s vast railway network", but it does not address the mouse in the room. Japan is approximately the size of California with a population density that is three times that of California. I would argue that a comparison of rail systems without addressing those critical issues may be interesting but isn't really informative. The issues are complex.

Re: Why Japan has such good railways

#109

Post by kohsuke » Sat, Apr 18, 2026, 3:34 PM UTC

fsh wrote: post #97

Japanese public transport is good, but no match for the Swiss system. Outside of big cities, the coverage is spotty, and even reasonably large towns are only connected by reserved-only trains every couple of hours that get booked out days in advance. The almost complete lack of digitization is also remarkable (reservations have to be made with machines in the stations). There are other annoyances such as the public t…

You can make reservations online: https://www.eki-net.com/en/jreast-train-reservation/Top/Inde...

Re: Why Japan has such good railways

#110

Post by chii » Sat, Apr 18, 2026, 3:36 PM UTC

antirez wrote: post #84

ttul wrote: post #75

“Japan’s liberal land use regulation makes it straightforward to build new neighborhoods next to railway lines, giving commuters easy access to city centers. It also enables the densification of these centers, which means that commuters have more places they want to go.” This is the most important paragraph in the article. It can’t be overstated how ingenious Japan’s system of zoning is and how much this has benefitt…

"West" when we talk about urban spaces, walk-accessible cities and public transportation is, IMHO, the wrong category. Europe and USA are very far apart.

they might mean west of japan ;)