Trains in are very punctual. You can set your watch by them. You can time critical scientific experiments by them.
Occasionally, however, acts of God interfere with the precise timekeeping instrument that is the Japanese rail system. This happened when I was taking a Shinkansen (called the "Shink" by some gaijin, in the Japanese fashion of shortening words) from Nagoya to Okayama.
I had bought a ticket ahead of time for a Nozomi, the fastest train. Nozomis are all reserved seats, so I would be guaranteed a seat. For routes between Tokyo and southern Japan, the fastest Shink is the Nozomi, followed by the Hikari and the Kodama. The faster trains don't stop at as many stations.
A bit of trivial: Train directs are determined by whether the train is going toward or from Tokyo. If it is going toward Tokyo, it is going up (nobori), if it is going away from Tokyo, it is going down (kudari). So a Tokyo-bound train from Nagoya and one from Sendai are both going in opposite directions in absolute terms, but are both nobori trains.
After racing around like a chicken with its proverbial head cut off packing and sending my boxes and suitcase, I raced to the post office to mail a box home to the US. Then, I raced as much as one can with a small rolling suitcase in tow to the school to drop off my key, then to Okazaki Station. I made it with several minutes to spare.
Unfortunately, when I got to my platform at Nagoya for a 11:15 train, and all the boards were referring to trains that leave at around 9:00. There was a lot of rain near Tokyo (where the trains originate), and all shinkansens were delayed over two hours. I finally got on an unreserved car for Hikari going to Okayama. After a stop or two, an empty seat was available, and I arrived at Okayama two hours later than planned.
When this kind of thing happens, railroad employees hand of official excuse slips for employees to show their bosses. Fortunately, I wasn't going to work!
The second time I experienced train delays was yesterday. I was coming back from Mito, and there was an accident somewhere in the Kanto area, plus heavy rain. So the whole system from Oyama to Karasuyama was mess up. Luckily, I did make it back at around 10:00 at night.
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1 comment:
Yeah, I bet they have to hand out excuse slips to give your boss... otherwise, if you tried to say "The train was late," nobody would believe you! Whereas, in these parts, the response would be: "Yeah, it's always late, so take an earlier one."
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