Japanese rail has a long-held association with retail shopping. The numerous rail companies in Japan found a way around profit caps imposed on them by the government by investing in retail and housing. Situated close to or inside busy stations, these subsidiary companies cater to the demands of commuters and generate around ¥1 Trillion (£700, 000, 000) profit every year (and, need I mention, this is the basis of gameplay in the A-Train series).
Now it looks like JR East are moving into the up-market grocery business with their aquisition of the Kinokuniya Supermarket Chain. Kinokuniya’s online store can be viewed HERE. It’s gives a pretty good idea of what they offer although the online business is not being sold.
Apparently housewives love Kinokuniya because of its range of foreign produce like Norwegian brown waffles, Spanish olives and such like. They also cure their own ham and offer many delicious cheeses and fish, vegetable and meats. I think they also have a chain of book stores, though, again, these are not being purchased.
Read the full story HERE
Shibuya to Ebisu (anti-clockwise) – an interesting short video from the Youtube channel of lylehsaxon.
I’ll probably feature more videos from this YouTuber from time to time. I really like they way they capture incidental snippets of life in Japan.
Please visit his channel when you have a moment.
Travellers on London Transport can use a Smart Card called Oyster.
In Japan you can also buy goods and other services with your rail/bus Smart Card. The three main railway groups – JR East (Suica card), JR Tokai (Toica Card) an JR West (Icoca Card) said Monday that they have agreed to tie up on electronic money services using their respective smart cards. This means that goods may now be purchased with your, for instance, Suica Card in shops owned by JR West and so on.
Full report HERE
Another news story about JR East employees facing possible charges – this time in connection with a 2005 derailment caused by a strong gust of wind.
It seems that the three workers, accused of ‘professional negligence’ in a police report, might have stopped the train since, apparently, the strong winds could have been predicted.
Five people aboard the train were killed and 33 others were injured, some seriously.
Read the full story HERE
East Japan Railway Co.’s next-generation E5-type bullet train, which will be launched in 2011, appeared for the first time at JR Tokyo Station in a test run early Wednesday evening, attracting railway buffs and commuters on their way home.
The new bullet train goes into service in March 2011, three months after the extension of the Tohoku Shinkansen Line to Shin-Aomori Station.
Read more HERE
The Yomiuri Shimbun reports that JR East has begun it’s first independant campaign against groping on trains.
I was under the impression that an anti-groping initiative was already under way, but perhaps this marks the first ‘serious’ and on-going attempt to raise awareness and deter potential Chikan.
The full story is HERE
East Japan Railway Company have installed blue light-emitting diode lights in all 29 stations of the Yamanote line as the number of suicides in Japan rises again. Although the company admit there is no scientific proof that blue lights deter suicide, the hope is that they will have an effect on people with troubled states of mind:
“We associate the color with the sky and the sea,” said Mizuki Takahashi, a therapist at the Japan Institute of Color Psychology, a private research center that was not involved in the lighting project. “It has a calming effect on agitated people, or people obsessed with one particular thing, which in this case is committing suicide.”
JR East has seen 68 platform suicides since March this year alone – up from 42 for the same period two years ago.
News | MarkE231 | 
27/01/2010 21:34 | 
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