Just because you disagree doesn't mean I have no idea what I'm talking about. Japanese culture's suppression of the individual in favor of the community is well documented.
My honest opinion of "Japanese society works great because the whole society is formed by a unique strain of humans who lack any sense of individualism" is a pretty shallow take in my opinion, where most of the corroboration are other clueless people repeating the same basic stereotype.
The other commenter mentions the huge impact of Japanese pop culture and technical innovation, which somehow isn't legitimate proof of individual expression, but if you need academic citations then here's some from even back in the '90s arguing that Japan is not less individualistic than the West, and even arguably is less collectivistic depending on how you measure that. [1][2]
Here's an example purely from a Japanese stereotype that shows a type of individuality that people could generally understand (just in a form what westerners tend to look down on)—the concept of an otaku [3], or in other words, someone who follows some interest much further than anyone thinks is socially "normal" or "reasonable." And yet these people are generally accepted by Japanese society, if not empowered in the form of a respected "craft" culture, in a way that would just make you a total loser in most of the West.
My personal experience actually living in Japan for 7 years now, matches a different common trope in Japanese culture, wherein what people outwardly say to people they don't trust is completely different than what they actually believe and say to people they do trust (honne/tatemae [4]).
And unfortunately for the Westerners parroting these stereotypes, they firmly fall into only hearing the tatemae.
To the original thread, there are plenty of rational, direct reasons for why Japanese cities can be clean and orderly, that aren't that "Everyone in Japan is some kind of brainless drone," but unfortunately people who justify things based on that excuse will never learn what those things are, doomed to make the same mistakes... very drone-like, in my view.
I lived and worked there for several years and I agree with them. Pretty sure my wife, who I met there, would also agree.
You can’t just lob a “you don’t know what you’re talking about” without some actual context like that - this forum is supposed to encourage more useful discussion.
I have not had any such problems living here for 7 years… elevators always have signs all over the station telling you exactly where to go to get to them, with standardized coloring and symbols, and text saying what it’s about in Japanese and English. They tell you even while you’re on the train which car the elevator will be in front of.
I would chalk up your experience to being generally overwhelmed and not used to it, mixed in with being illiterate in the local language (despite there being English and symbols to assist further).
I do know how to read. I was thinking of the case of finding it from the outside, especially at a large station like Shibuya where they're always closing random entrances. Jorudan/Google/Apple Maps also don't incorporate them into search.
It's fine once you've learned where they are of course.
Most stations play sounds to indicate stairs and ticket gates. Typically a slow ding...dong sound, and birds chirping. Though I'm not sure if they indicate elevators with those sounds, I need to check next time I'm in a station.
I disagree with the implication that Swiss/European people are morally superior to those in other parts of the world and their choices are de-facto better than those being made elsewhere. Seems like a common, ignorant and bigoted stance.
Cleanliness and a general sense of respect for the public spaces IS de-facto better than trash everywhere and a society where everyone only cares for number one. If it's offensive to you, your moral compass is wrong.
Ride shares aren’t a thing in Japan and most people can’t afford blowing hundreds of dollars on a super long taxi ride - for reference from where I live to there, the dominant taxi app here estimates 40,000 yen in the day time, which is more expensive at night due to increased late night rates. Plus Otsuki is in the middle of nowhere - I presume there are taxi drivers looking to capitalize on this, but there may not be many of them so far from a major area.
These train lines are very long, so you might be quite far away from where you were actually intending to go.
Even if ski resorts followed every sustainable practice stringently it wouldn’t change much, wouldn’t it? It’s not like ski resorts are the drivers of climate change, or even that climate change is really what causes ski resorts to close.
This is a weird paper. Optimizing sustainability won't save your resort.
A few other commenters are complaining about lack of snow (climate change), but the real drivers are fundamentals (e.g. cost of leasing protected forests or grooming) and trends like younger generations wanting ski weekends over ski weeks. If you can't stay relevant, you perish.
Probably at least some, because most tools’ documentation are not going to be in your language – at least that’s how it is here in Japan. That said plenty of Japanese engineers who have very low English skill.
That's because they still haven't eliminated the crossing points.
They need to turn every road or pedestrian crossing into an underpass or overpass, or eliminate it. They've started on this process, but it will take many years.
I live a block away from a train crossing for a track that does a lot of local refinery transfers and occasional has freight. It has the normal old style crossing with an arm on each side with lights, a loud bell, and trains required to signal with horn. There are 8 road crossings in a short distance so each train is signals 8 times nearby.
The requirements for a no-signal crossing is essentially a pedestrian gate. The quote the city has for each crossing was if I remember right 1.5 million usd. And you’d need to replace many of them. The city doesn’t want to prioritize that much money. (FWIW I agree)
The worst thing is we have under utilized tracks going all over the region and no commuter train service. Even with the rail expansion prior to the Olympics (I’m near Los Angeles), the commuter rail is only being extended to the northern most edge of the city.
Neighbors have been fighting against commuter rail every step of the way. I’ll say attending local govt and rail proposal meetings is at once interesting, impressive at what some groups are trying to achieve and disturbing at the lengths people go to prevent change.
Trains don't honk in much of Europe when approaching a gated crossing.
The lights and barriers are assumed to be sufficient. Within cities, there may well be CCTV cameras (pointing only at the crossing) so the signal controllers can check the crossing is clear.
I grew up in a 600,000 inhabitants city in Germany. They got EMUs in the 1930s. When they got the next generation in the 1970s all level crossings were replaced.
So California, one of the forerunners in the US, seems to be roughly 90 years behind. Depends on your age whether you'll be able to enjoy a quiet train trip during your lifetime. </sarcasm>
In 1930s California’s population boom had just started. There were 5 million people in the state, split between San Francisco and Los Angeles. Both cities had electric trams, but the demand for regional rail wasn’t high enough to electrify it.
Even today it’s not uncommon to de-electrify lower-volume rights of way.
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