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Japan and trains: The love affair
Snowfall causing train delays is nothing new. In the UK, where I'm from, this happens with hilarious, infuriating regularity. But last week, the first snow of 2016 brought Tokyo's central railway lines and Metro to a halt: hour-long delays between stations normally located minutes apart, packed platforms and a lot of complaints. That's because Japan's railway system typically works flawlessly, from the immaculately clean trains that service the distant southern isles of Japan to the experimental high-speed, floating maglev cars that might hit 372 miles per hour. If you love trains, you'll love Japan. And I just love them.
Tokyo Metro finishes rolling out WiFi at its train stations
Train stations deep indoors and underground rarely make for the best places to hit up a smartphone for data, yet they're where a lot of Tokyo residents have to spend their time. Accordingly, it only makes sense that one of the city's chief mass transit providers, Tokyo Metro, would outfit as many of its stations as possible with free WiFi. Expanding on deployments that started in February, every station that Tokyo Metro directly manages now lets travelers hop on WiFi, 15 minutes at a time; Android and iOS users can load up a Manta app to plan their trips and cram in some reading or video in while waiting for the next ride. Whether or not the current arrangement lasts is another matter. The WiFi grid as it exists will continue until the end of July, at which point the network will evolve depending on real-world use. The rollout still won't cover significant stretches of Tokyo, if it holds, but those who want their Google+ on the Ginza line will be happy. [Thanks, @colm_smyth; image credit: Dick Thomas Johnson, Flickr]
