Japanese Vacation No.9 (week 1)

[Bernard]

West - Love the photos but on the 2nd photo in the post above I did a double take......asking myself, "How is the worker cleaning the window??" It's just a weird angle in which you caught the worker. 

[Nick_Burman]

Some dilapitated old buildings in Taketoyo. I wonder if the big shopping centres springing up everywhere are killing the smaller stores in Japan like they are at home?

 

 

According to some sources, yes. Out-of-town malls were one of the reasons why Meitetsu's Gifu lines closed - folks were simply not riding into the center for their shopping. Add the spluttering economy to the equation and you get a deadly mix for Mom-and-Pop stores...

 

 

Cheers NB

[bikkuri bahn]

Some dilapitated old buildings in Taketoyo. I wonder if the big shopping centres springing up everywhere are killing the smaller stores in Japan like they are at home?

 

 

According to some sources, yes. Out-of-town malls were one of the reasons why Meitetsu's Gifu lines closed - folks were simply not riding into the center for their shopping. Add the spluttering economy to the mix and you get a deadly mix for Mom-and-Pop stores...

 

 

Cheers NB

 

I also read somewhere that the Nagoya area has a high rate of car ownership (Toyota is an ever-present influence)- so the building of said malls were not much of a problem for people to get to.

[cteno4]

 

I also read somewhere that the Nagoya area has a high rate of car ownership (Toyota is an ever-present influence)- so the building of said malls were not much of a problem for people to get to.

 

this is happening all over japan, changing demographics and the landscape. we had a phd student from japan studying local transit visit us a couple of years ago and he talked about this. moving shopping out of the centers in high density population areas out to the burbs where there are much fewer transit options other than a car...

 

jeff

[bikkuri bahn]

West - Love the photos but on the 2nd photo in the post above I did a double take......asking myself, "How is the worker cleaning the window??" It's just a weird angle in which you caught the worker.

 

I like that picture because it embodies alot of the lure/quirkiness of Meitetsu- old style platform construction, wooden sleepers, appealing in a homely way rolling stock designs (that 6000 series being hosed down is quintessentially Meitetsu in style).  Just don't visit the restrooms in some stations- they can be grotty.

 

Another facet that always catches my eye when I visit Meitetsu lines is the railroad roman numbering style used on rolling stock.  For someone used to seeing this on black AT&SF steam locomotives, it seems like an anomaly, but also appealing.

[Nick_Burman]

West - Love the photos but on the 2nd photo in the post above I did a double take......asking myself, "How is the worker cleaning the window??" It's just a weird angle in which you caught the worker.

 

I like that picture because it embodies alot of the lure/quirkiness of Meitetsu- old style platform construction, wooden sleepers, appealing in a homely way rolling stock designs (that 6000 series being hosed down is quintessentially Meitetsu in style).  Just don't visit the restrooms in some stations- they can be grotty.

 

Another facet that always catches my eye when I visit Meitetsu lines is the railroad roman numbering style used on rolling stock.  For someone used to seeing this on black AT&SF steam locomotives, it seems like an anomaly, but also appealing.

 

 

 

Another Meitetsu quirk is the lack of car type designations (DeHa, etc...) next to the numbers. And on older rolling stock, the complete lack of company ID on the cars.

 

Cheers NB

[westfalen]

West - Love the photos but on the 2nd photo in the post above I did a double take......asking myself, "How is the worker cleaning the window??" It's just a weird angle in which you caught the worker.

 

I like that picture because it embodies alot of the lure/quirkiness of Meitetsu- old style platform construction, wooden sleepers, appealing in a homely way rolling stock designs (that 6000 series being hosed down is quintessentially Meitetsu in style).  Just don't visit the restrooms in some stations- they can be grotty.

 

Another facet that always catches my eye when I visit Meitetsu lines is the railroad roman numbering style used on rolling stock.  For someone used to seeing this on black AT&SF steam locomotives, it seems like an anomaly, but also appealing.

 

 

I see what you mean about the guy with the hose. The reason he caught my eye was that back home anyone using a hose anywhere within sight of overhead wires would be shown the unemployemnt line by our workplace health and safety people, Meitetsu is a lower voltage than QR, but still...

 

I also noticed the polished metal (they even appeared to be brass on some cars) railroad roman style numbers, I thought they added a touch of class. I also made a note that they didn't seem to have as much money to spend on track as the Kintetsu, the single slip in the junction at Fuki caught my eye as well.

[westfalen]

West - Love the photos but on the 2nd photo in the post above I did a double take......asking myself, "How is the worker cleaning the window??" It's just a weird angle in which you caught the worker.

 

I like that picture because it embodies alot of the lure/quirkiness of Meitetsu- old style platform construction, wooden sleepers, appealing in a homely way rolling stock designs (that 6000 series being hosed down is quintessentially Meitetsu in style).  Just don't visit the restrooms in some stations- they can be grotty.

 

Another facet that always catches my eye when I visit Meitetsu lines is the railroad roman numbering style used on rolling stock.  For someone used to seeing this on black AT&SF steam locomotives, it seems like an anomaly, but also appealing.

 

 

 

Another Meitetsu quirk is the lack of car type designations (DeHa, etc...) next to the numbers. And on older rolling stock, the complete lack of company ID on the cars.

 

Cheers NB

I guess when you paint your trains bright red everyone knows who you are.

[westfalen]

One thing I noticed last night about being in Japan is that I can only get onto HS's Japanese website, even if I manually type in the English page's address it reverts to the Japanese one.

[Nick_Burman]

 

 

Another Meitetsu quirk is the lack of car type designations (DeHa, etc...) next to the numbers. And on older rolling stock, the complete lack of company ID on the cars.

 

Cheers NB

I guess when you paint your trains bright red everyone knows who you are.

 

Sure, but what about the period when Meitetsu painted its trains green (or salmon and pink, depending on the train set)?

 

Cheers NB

[bikkuri bahn]

One thing I noticed last night about being in Japan is that I can only get onto HS's Japanese website, even if I manually type in the English page's address it reverts to the Japanese one.

 

Yes, it probably auto-defaults based on the IP address.

[The_Ghan]

West - Love the photos but on the 2nd photo in the post above I did a double take......asking myself, "How is the worker cleaning the window??" It's just a weird angle in which you caught the worker. 

 

 

Yes Bernard, I laughed for a minute too ... then realised just how unsafe this is ... and I don't even work on the railways.  Surely water near live overhead lines like this is dangerous, right?  Inappropriate PPE (personal protection equipment) such as no fluro vest and I think gloves are required in Australia when working on anything greater than 3 phase domestic power.  I presume there was an observer nearby, as working alone in this environment adds an element of risk.

 

Cheers

 

The_Ghan

[The_Ghan]

One thing I noticed last night about being in Japan is that I can only get onto HS's Japanese website, even if I manually type in the English page's address it reverts to the Japanese one.

 

West,

 

You probably need to use an anonymous proxy like KPROXY. 

 

I'm loving your posts, btw, especially shots of car interiors - something there is never enough of.

 

Good luck

 

Cheers

 

The_Ghan

[keitaro]

Some dilapitated old buildings in Taketoyo. I wonder if the big shopping centres springing up everywhere are killing the smaller stores in Japan like they are at home?

 

 

it's the economy and shopping centres.

 

you should see marugame near takamatsu. 30 mins away approx.

 

there is a old skewl walk through arcade now abandoned and rusting just minutes from the station and no other major shopping centre nearby either (walking distance anyway).

 

Marugame is a pretty populated area as well one would think something so close to the train station would have stores in it but i has just a 2 or 3 shops left with the other 20 or so rusting out.

[bikkuri bahn]

Some dilapitated old buildings in Taketoyo. I wonder if the big shopping centres springing up everywhere are killing the smaller stores in Japan like they are at home?

 

 

it's the economy and shopping centres.

 

you should see marugame near takamatsu. 30 mins away approx.

 

there is a old skewl walk through arcade now abandoned and rusting just minutes from the station and no other major shopping centre nearby either (walking distance anyway).

 

Marugame is a pretty populated area as well one would think something so close to the train station would have stores in it but i has just a 2 or 3 shops left with the other 20 or so rusting out.

 

 

 

Another factor is the aging of the shopkeeper population, with no successors.  The last holdouts in the old arcades are just biding time until they can retire and collect pension.  That's why you see so many small businesses with seemingly no customers, but somehow miraculously holding on.  The more ambitious store owners (or those with successors), likely moved their businesses to the new shoping centers, which, despite being dominated by the national chains, do allocate floor space to local businesses.

[CaptOblivious]

One thing I noticed last night about being in Japan is that I can only get onto HS's Japanese website, even if I manually type in the English page's address it reverts to the Japanese one.

 

Yes, it probably auto-defaults based on the IP address.

 

It does. You'll have to delete all of your cookies from 1999.co.jp, and use an outside-of-japan proxy (which is how I access things like my Netflix account) to get the English language site back.

[westfalen]

I found out this morning that there are no reserved seats left on any of my trains from Nagoya to Miyazaki on Monday so I'll have to get to the station early to get a good nonreserved seat. I was planning on doing that anyway and just using reserved seats as a safeguard incase I got there too late beacuse at this late stage the only seats left would have been the ones at the bottom of the barrel like aisle seats facing the end wall, I often get better seats than the ones I reserve by being first in line on the platform.

 

I rode the Nagaragawa Railway today. The turntable at the end of the line at Hakuno has a builders plate stating it was built by the American Bridge Company of New York in 1902, but I believe the line was opened later than that so it must have been moved there from somewhere else. I skipped my planned lunch break at Gujohachiman (it didn't look as good in person as the picture Lonely Planet painted of it) on the way back in favour of seeing more of the Meitetsu in daylight and an earlier arrival back in Nagoya via a different route than I had planned. After the Nagaragawa I caught JR to Kani and then Meitetsu's two car shuttle to Mitake, returning to Nagoya on the Meitetsu via Inuyama, Kami-Iida and the subway.

[westfalen]

More Nagaragawa. I also took about 1:45 of video out the front of the train on the way out.

[westfalen]

Last of today's.

 

The last one is a brief glimpse of a Meitetsu steeple cab at the Inuyama depot.

[Bernard]

While you're there, has there been a lot of talk about the rebuilding after the earthquake? Do they show photos of what has been done so far?

Also have you noticed any changes (people not traveling as much, etc.) on this trip since the earthquake?

There was a report this past weekend in the US about the huge amounts of wreckage flowing in the Ocean as a result of the Japanese earthquake.

[westfalen]

While you're there, has there been a lot of talk about the rebuilding after the earthquake? Do they show photos of what has been done so far?

Also have you noticed any changes (people not traveling as much, etc.) on this trip since the earthquake?

There was a report this past weekend in the US about the huge amounts of wreckage flowing in the Ocean as a result of the Japanese earthquake.

Earthquake? What earthquake?

 

I did see a brief item on the news one morning showing what I assume was earthquake wreckage being cleared up but I couldn't get the gist of what it was about. Down this part of the country it seems business as usual, as I mentioned all the reserved seats are taken on my trains to Miyazaki on Monday.

[gmat]

Probably reporting about this.

 

http://www.japantoday.com/category/national/view/tokyo-starts-disposal-of-tsunami-debris-from-iwate

 

Best wishes,

Grant

[scott]

I'm loving your posts, btw, especially shots of car interiors - something there is never enough of.

 

Same here! I guess file me under "noritetsu otaku." :-)

 

 

I often get better seats than the ones I reserve by being first in line on the platform.

 

How are the reserved seats marked so that you know which ones you can grab?

[Nick_Burman]

 

 

Another factor is the aging of the shopkeeper population, with no successors.  The last holdouts in the old arcades are just biding time until they can retire and collect pension.  That's why you see so many small businesses with seemingly no customers, but somehow miraculously holding on.  The more ambitious store owners (or those with successors), likely moved their businesses to the new shoping centers, which, despite being dominated by the national chains, do allocate floor space to local businesses.

 

Sorry to bring the subject up again, however this thought bounced up after my post...at least one Japanese city seems to be attempting to buck the trend - Toyama. Both the conversions of the Iwasehama branch to LRT and the Centram are attempts (in part) to get people to ride to the center. So far the Portram seem to be a success compared to the JR train service it replaced.

 

Cheers NB

[westfalen]

I'm loving your posts, btw, especially shots of car interiors - something there is never enough of.

 

Same here! I guess file me under "noritetsu otaku." :-)

 

 

I often get better seats than the ones I reserve by being first in line on the platform.

 

How are the reserved seats marked so that you know which ones you can grab?

I took a few more today.

 

The whole car is either reserved or non reserved. Cars are designated by signs near the doors if they are reserved or not and the JR timetable has pages with diagrams of the trains showing which car is which. So according to the timetable my train from Nagoya to Shin Osaka, Kodama #695, has standard class cars 1,2,3,4,5,6,13,14 and 15 nonreserved, it also tells me that they are numbered from the leading end leaving Tokyo and that car 15 is the smoker so I can avoid that one. The timetable tells me it arrives on platform 16 so I can be on the platform early and stand in line where the marks painted on the platform tell you to stand for each car. The train only starts out from Shizuoka so it may not be too crowded.