There are close to 20 million people living in Tokyo. As you might imagine, it requires some patience to live in a city of 20 million. I've noticed that folks here don't mind waiting for things, which makes sense. There are queues everywhere. These people are waiting to park their bikes in the municipal bike parking lot. They'll eventually park their bikes then board a train.
This restaurant in Kichijoji is nice enough to give you a place to sit and a blanket to keep warm - they know you'll be out there in the cold for a while.
Queueing for a cab at midnight in Shinjuku after riding the metro.
In Kichijoji we queued up for some deep-fried meatballs. The arrow points out how far we were away from our eventual target.
Perhaps with this in mind, the metro planners offer a variety of express trains only. There is semi-express, express and rapid express. Sadly, none of these is faster than the other - there is no middle track that I've seen. These simply vary in the number of stops, not in elapsed time to your destination.
4 comments:
Somebody told me that in Japan there is no convention whereby you walk to the right, so people bump into each other because there is no right of way. Is this true? Wouldn't it help to walk to one side or the other with so many people around?D
Sal, people walk to the left - same side as they drive on. Now, that is not always followed, especially while walking in the subway....
Dont know how FN stands all the waiting. If this were Paris you would be bonkers
Pops, you wait in Paris because of inefficiency and stupidity. In Tokyo you wait despite the efficiency - sheer numbers of people. I must admit, it doesn't bother me because I am on vacation. If I lived here I would have to become a more patient person.
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