2021 wasn’t the best of years, certainly not a good one for transit as ridership everywhere continues to be severely impacted by COVID. Yet travel in Japan felt normal, more […]
Cool Japan - Culture Wars
The YouTube JP Zeitgeist: boobs, butts, celebrities and gossip gurl Heraiza
I have no idea who the top Japanese YouTuber is right now but Heraiza is the ‘it girl’, the zeitgeist of our Japanese COVID state of emergency moment. Not only […]
Apple Pay Suica - Cool Japan - Suica - Transit
Riding 272km on 42km ICOCA fare
The ICOCA IC fare region extensions that went into effect March 13 have opened up some interesting transit possibilities. ICOCA has a 200km travel limit but the exit gate fare […]
Cool Japan - Transit
Abandoned Tokaido Line
Suit Train posted a wonderful video with his patented narration style. For a college guy he’s already way more professional, and much better than many TV announcers, and has that […]
Cool Japan - Transit
The Art of Train Announcements
This morning the conductor made an announcement as the Yamanote train pulled into Meguro station: “This train is not a waste basket, kindly fold newspapers and take reading material with […]
Cool Japan - Japanese Buddhism
Pets and Pistols
In our era of unending overheated news cycles I take comfort in the cold dispassionate analytic Japanese cultural characteristic. Its helpful not only for keeping a level head but also […]