Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

How Japan's railways stayed one while splitting apart

arun.is

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

131–140 of 158 posts

Re: How Japan's railways stayed one while splitting apart

#131

Post by starik36 »

Pooge wrote: post #56

For those of you planning to go to Japan, please make sure you actually calculate how much JR train trips would cost you. They upped the price a few years ago and, since then, it's basically impossible for the JR Pass to be more affordable than single tickets. For one of my recent trips, I was actually more better served with a local pass (Kansai Wide Pass) than the JR Pass. Too bad because it used to be a really goo…

But the regional passes are still a good deal. If you are in Osaka or Kyoto, and want to take a day trip to Hiroshima, it more than covers the cost, in addition to granting access to various museums plus other benefits.

Re: How Japan's railways stayed one while splitting apart

#132

Post by killingtime74 »

Liftyee wrote: post #3

A factor not mentioned is Japan's cultural sense of duty and honour. I don't think employees in the West generally feel such dedication or perfectionism towards their company but in Japan it helped make all these efficient and meticulous changes possible, and avoids issues of privatisation like neglecting maintenance / short term profit maximisation.

Yeah and we would feel that way in the west if the company didn't lay us off every time the stock market twitched and gave us company housing.

Re: How Japan's railways stayed one while splitting apart

#133

Post by Pooge »

starik36 wrote: post #131
Pooge wrote: post #56

For those of you planning to go to Japan, please make sure you actually calculate how much JR train trips would cost you. They upped the price a few years ago and, since then, it's basically impossible for the JR Pass to be more affordable than single tickets. For one of my recent trips, I was actually more better served with a local pass (Kansai Wide Pass) than the JR Pass. Too bad because it used to be a really goo…

But the regional passes are still a good deal. If you are in Osaka or Kyoto, and want to take a day trip to Hiroshima, it more than covers the cost, in addition to granting access to various museums plus other benefits.

The Kansai Wide area pass that I'm talking about doesn't include access to museums. But some of the smaller passes (like the one of Osaka that you mentioned) do. Those passes don't include Shinkansen, though.

Re: How Japan's railways stayed one while splitting apart

#134

Post by mitthrowaway2 »

17383848 wrote: post #120
linguae wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Pre-Carly Fiorina Hewlett-Packard was a great example of an old-school Silicon Valley company, long before the era of “move fast and break things” and of Zuck, Elon, and Altman. I used to work for a Japanese company until I left a few years ago to teach, and when I read about the HP Way, it reminds me in many ways of life at my former employer: https://www.hp.com/hpinfo/abouthp/histnfacts/publications/me...

[dead]

It was.

Re: How Japan's railways stayed one while splitting apart

#135

Post by starik36 »

Pooge wrote: post #133
starik36 wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But the regional passes are still a good deal. If you are in Osaka or Kyoto, and want to take a day trip to Hiroshima, it more than covers the cost, in addition to granting access to various museums plus other benefits.

The Kansai Wide area pass that I'm talking about doesn't include access to museums. But some of the smaller passes (like the one of Osaka that you mentioned) do. Those passes don't include Shinkansen, though.

No, I am talking about the JR West Rail Pass. Gives you access to local trains, shinkansen, museums and a host of other things.

Re: How Japan's railways stayed one while splitting apart

#136

Post by Pooge »

starik36 wrote: post #135
Pooge wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Kansai Wide area pass that I'm talking about doesn't include access to museums. But some of the smaller passes (like the one of Osaka that you mentioned) do. Those passes don't include Shinkansen, though.

No, I am talking about the JR West Rail Pass. Gives you access to local trains, shinkansen, museums and a host of other things.

From what I see[1], that is an umbrella term that encompasses a few passes, including the Wide Pass. Maybe some do include attractions; I didn't know that!

I also looked up Tohoku JR passes for an upcoming trip and it wasn't affordable at all. I'm better served using single tickets even when riding the Shinkansen.

[1]: https://www.westjr.co.jp/travel-information/en/tickets-passe...

Re: How Japan's railways stayed one while splitting apart

#137

Post by bdamm »

emursebrian wrote: post #104
akashwadhwani35 wrote: post #100

Every platform at Shinjuku plays a different song when a train pulls in. There are sixteen platforms. The system started in 1989 with twelve. Made something to listen to all the songs - https://sheets.works/data-viz/bells-of-tokyo

Eki-melos are the things that I really liked about taking trains in Japan. The chirping bird sounds to help blind users find their way to and from the platforms is also a pretty interesting design decision.

Personally I loved it. The Japanese aesthetic is subtle and delightful. Also, riding my bicycle in the countryside with very few traffic signs to mar the view. Just the necessary ones, at exactly the right places. They assume you are not an idiot, and somehow it all works out!

Re: How Japan's railways stayed one while splitting apart

#138

Post by woodruffw »

iso1631 wrote: post #87
Shitty-kitty wrote: post #9

The U.S had the greatest rail network and then we built the Interstate Highway system and abandoned rail. Truth is that nobody funds multiple competing transportation network. Japan chose rail, we chose highways.

The US did not abandon rail, it just used it for freight Europe shifts people by train, not freight. The US/Canada/Mexico is about 10% more than the EU, but it shifts 7 times as much freight by rail.

It’s both: the US rail network is (currently) geared for freight, and we’ve systematically removed or neglected the parts that favored passenger rail.

Re: How Japan's railways stayed one while splitting apart

#139

Post by decafninja »

metalman wrote: post #91

It reads like fucking science fiction about an improbable alternate universe where everybody grows up into intelliegent well adjusted indivuals that can express themselves in a group without focusing on conflict and meaningless competition. Any where else in the "universe" this has lead to corporate standoffs and litigation that has fall out for generations, and even killings and corporate subsidised wars in the deve…

It's taboo to speak about, but both Japan and China are homogenous societies and enjoy the benefits that brings.

China a bit less so than Japan, but still much more than the US or Western Europe. Plus even the minorities are still phenotypically more or less similar looking to the majorities.

China also enjoys the benefits of being an autocratic nation.

Re: How Japan's railways stayed one while splitting apart

#140

Post by nixass »

Pooge wrote: post #56

For those of you planning to go to Japan, please make sure you actually calculate how much JR train trips would cost you. They upped the price a few years ago and, since then, it's basically impossible for the JR Pass to be more affordable than single tickets. For one of my recent trips, I was actually more better served with a local pass (Kansai Wide Pass) than the JR Pass. Too bad because it used to be a really goo…

> it's basically impossible for the JR Pass to be more affordable than single tickets

Not true. It really depends on your use case and blanket statements like this aren't helpful. Yes, the pass has doubled in price since few years ago but it still does make sense in many cases, especially in multi-week multi-city Japan trips

Post reply on HN