238. By the way, while most hotels I stayed at had built-in hot baths (onsen), I don’t think I saw one single hotel gym.
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249. A cool platform edge signage showing you the train is about to arrive – and from which direction.pic.twitter.com/J6jm9jaoyr
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250. Just like you could slide in a stack of money into a ticket machine, you could also insert more than one ticket together to get through this fare gate.pic.twitter.com/tTyBSkKdww
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251. On any type of train, there has always been a manned gate and a wide gate for wheelchairs. But even any regular gate was wide enough for me and my big bag – and I was never nervous crossing it.pic.twitter.com/wdLCL90yWk
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252. Japan seems to care A LOT about trains in general. These are a few really cool-looking local trains I saw in actual operation.pic.twitter.com/VXi1YusBxA
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253. Not that a train has to be good-looking. It was so rewarding to see a little reliable commuter train just weaving its way through the city, like it’s no big deal.pic.twitter.com/aP2HLMwPEH
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254. Speaking of which, can someone help me and decipher what was this train crossing trying to tell me? (Both Google Translate and me drawing these shapes failed.)pic.twitter.com/nJKoAzybUX
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255. A lot of the trains utilize this fascinating system: there are cars with reserved seats, and cars where you can sit at will. This feels like such a great hybrid model accommodating both planners and spontaneous people. (I wish movie theatres did that!)
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256. Even a train ticket machine will allow you to reserve a seat. Here, the UI actually tells you which car is the least occupied at any given moment, which is super thoughtful.pic.twitter.com/iXterBU0nw
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257. As a consequence, there is a lot of signage directing you to the appropriate car.pic.twitter.com/5w9qQuufbR
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Each train has its own map, and in front of you, there is often even a mini version of that map.pic.twitter.com/YHTMHcMYSD
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And for trains without reserved seats, there are still interesting systems. Here, each door position was labeled with a symbol, and my train was announced as “queue up anywhere you see a triangle.” So much better than an enigmatic “board center.” *cough*BART*cough*pic.twitter.com/aKuA4RBauN
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258. By the way, it was cool to queue up for a train called Thunderbird. (Other fav name: Eveningliner.)pic.twitter.com/jnmiOalZLF
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259. I liked this consistent visual language for priority seats on one of commuter lines.pic.twitter.com/nosrYBeGL0
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260. This cool little UI shows you how far your train is from the current station in a way that reminded me of old videogames.pic.twitter.com/AFNY82YL49
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261. This perplexed me. A map on a train with two sliding transparent sections. Do they serve a purpose? Do they prevent people from touching the map itself and damaging it?pic.twitter.com/7BhsYx148H
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262. The best/fastest trains are the famous Shinkansen, or bullet trains. I have to say, seeing giant Shinkansen signage leading to my first trip was THRILLING.pic.twitter.com/jrB3OeFF5O
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263. Here are a few that I went on. (The first photos have someone on the platform who takes care of controlling the train? They always had a red umbrella-like thing of undetermined purpose.)pic.twitter.com/B8F3vFqH9I
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264. Someone compared Shinkansen to “wingless airplanes,” but I swear the Shinkansen I rode on had wings.pic.twitter.com/u7HscoccZO
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265. The trains run so often, and so precisely, that I had an 8-minute layover on the same platform, and in that small period of time there was ANOTHER Shinkansen passing through. …which I learned about the hard way (by boarding the wrong train).
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I was also once on a Shinkansen crossing a river, seeing another Shinkansen crossing the same river on another bridge, and – in between the two of us – yet another bridge being ready for yet another train. That was incredible.
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266. Small surface details: A little arm rest tray by the window, plus the actual big tray has a raised edge so that things can’t escape easily.pic.twitter.com/R8ZeUsFU3Z
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267. This design for a cup holder was clever – it extended only when needed, and also it locked in place, so it was pretty stable.pic.twitter.com/hO1ulJHwQR
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268. I also saw this cute set of retractable hooks, for both the aisle seat and the window seat, I assume?pic.twitter.com/eF0TEXlioj
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269. All the seats always face the direction of travel, although you can rotate your pair to sit family-style. (I’ve been told that when the train reverses at the terminal, all the seats are rotated automagically from the control panel, which would’ve been AMAZING to witness.)pic.twitter.com/nvyqqOtnou
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270. Among my proudest achievements was, during one brief train stop, running out to the platform vending machine LIKE A PRO to grab something quickly…pic.twitter.com/BeUnfbSZKE
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271. …an achievement relatively quickly undermined by the realization that there are vending machines on the train too, OF COURSE.pic.twitter.com/nMj67ob73F
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272. In a weird reversal of pretty much all of my life, this train restroom was much better than most stationary ones. (Flushing without touching! And something I nicknamed “ButtOn.”)pic.twitter.com/s2FRxG10dh
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273. Some Shinkansen even accommodated two… flavours of doing… things.pic.twitter.com/too5CfaUeW
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274. I also went to see the Kyoto railway museum, which was really awesome. Some of its interior design (look above) even resembled a train.pic.twitter.com/Gv7h9WA0OU
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