Neat Parking

One thing that's amazingly different in Japan compared with England is the way people get on and off trains.

In England we kind of mill around on the platform spread evenly like jam. The train arrives, stops pretty well anywhere, and everyone dives towards the doors.

Here in Japan every platform is carefully marked with the little markers you see here, and if more than one kind of train uses a platform then with several sets of little markers. This one says 'kaisoku' - 'rapid' train. This is where the doors will be when the train arives and this is where you queue in a tidy line to get on. At busy stations in Tokyo there are actually two markers which line up with either side of the door so that you can get on at the sides while people get off in the middle. This is how JR can achieve 'turn arounds' at stations of typically less than 30 seconds.

Drivers here take a pride in stopping their trains at exactly the right place - most of the time I'd guess that they aren't more than 15 cm (6") off the mark. With a heavy fifteen car train on wet rails with maybe 3000 people aboard that is no mean skill