Densha Vader

POSTED BY DANNY CHOO On Sat 2007/06/09 16:02 JST in Tokyo Stormtrooper
Was out n about with Hector who runs Japan blog Kirainet (he was also on blog tv) and here are a handful of pictures we took on the trains. Vader is a bummer to snap due to the blackness - the SLR thinks there is nothing there when you aim ^^; The complete opposite of a Stormtrooper ^^;
Hector will be uploading more pics to his blog (his blog is in English too) after he has finished fixing Technorati. Speaking of Technorati, their catch phrase is "Zillions of blogs (some of them have to be good)" which makes it sound like most of them are crap. hmmm.
Update: Hector has the pics up now.
For those who don't know, Densha (電車(でんしゃ)) means "train".
Having lived for most of my life in London, it was a welcome relief to come to a place where the trains are so spot on that you can set your watch by them (which I always do). I guess I'd rather be crushed on the train than having no train at all as was the case of London.
Back then, I would head for the underground station not knowing whether the trains were running or not. Occasionally I would get the "The Circle Line is closed today. Please find an alternative method of travel".
The best bit about the underground trains is when they change drivers. This process takes 10 mins where the previous driver gathers his newspaper (the Sun), packed lunch and tea flask. The new driver then sets his newspaper, tea and lunch in position, adjusts his seat....
The driver change process in Tokyo is instant and you can normally watch it happen at Shinagawa station on the Yamanote line - done within 15 seconds.
A few more pics of the armor at IT Media. Was at the Sblog Dinner where Japans top bloggers (including Kogure-san who runs Netaful - Alexa rank 10,124) and folks from the IT industry gather together to network/share ideas etc. IT Media had the MacBook Pro on the day of release and brought it along to get the opinions of the bloggers.