There are tons of train and subway lines, each run by different companies. The biggest is JR (Japan Railways), and it’s the one I take everyday.

I used to live in San Francisco and I’ve gotta say, MUNI stinks! Sure it gets you where you wanna go, but when you get there is anybody’s guess. I used to love those comics in the SF Weekly called “PUNI, neither here nor there.” More on MUNI (SF Municipal Railway) in another thread.

Viewing Tokyo trains through my MUNI lenses, I was amazed with their cleanliness and punctuality. Everyday, I leave my house at the exact same time, and arrive to work at the exact same time….on the minute! And my commute involves three trains.

If the train is late, it’s for a damn good reason, like an earthquake, typhoon, or “accident” (accident seems to be a euphemism for people jumping in front of moving trains aka “suicide”). Not cause some fat, lazy-ass driver stops to hop into the liquor store for a snack (I’ve seen this in SF several times).

Drivers in Japan undergo strict training, and can’t play games like back home. If these guys are even 1 minute late, there’s gonna be hell to pay!

Riding the schoolbus is no fun these days. We’ve got kids packing heat, and they’re not afraid to chuck a bottle at the driver’s head while he’s driving either. Being a schoolbus driver today is a dangerous occupation.

How can they keep an eye on the road, while controlling 30-40 crazy kids? The answer is simple: they can’t. Many a bus driver today has no choice but to radio for backup…from the police.

I read a news story a while back about a couple of teenagers who opened fire on a schoolbus in the middle of the afternoon. That’s right, they took pot-shots at the happy yellow schoolbus! It’s enough to drive a sane person mad!!!

This line runs mostly through Kawasaki and Tokyo, but I took this photo near the border of Kawasaki and Yokohama…an area that reminds me of the Port neighborhoods in LA: San Pedro, Harbor City, and Wilmington.

There are lots of factories, warehouses, and refineries, but seems like less pollution than back home. Some Japanese people have told me this area can be a little dangerous, but seems pretty safe to me.

The neon sign on the building to the right is for a Pachinko Parlor. Pachinko is basically a Japanese slot machine, and they’re practically everywhere. One of my buddies is a “Pachi-Pro,” and makes a living playing Pachinko. More on that later.

Tonight, I was gonna go see my friend (who I haven’t seen in a long time) spin records in Shibuya. To catch the last train there, I had to leave from my station at 12:25am and transfer to the final train leaving from Musashi-Kosugi at 12:42am. At 12:20am, my local station attendant came out and made an announcement in super-fast Japanese.

It took awhile to figure out what he said, but basically, the Nambu line (my train) would be late leaving Kawasaki cause it was waiting for the Tokaido to arrive. There must have been a problem with the Tokaido line, and if the Nambu didn’t wait for the people on that ill-fated train, they’d be doomed to a night in Kawasaki.

Yeah, for those who don’t know, Tokyo public transportation does not run all night. Most train lines stop sometime between 12:00am and 1:00am at night. If you miss that last train, you’re stuck there until sunrise. So if you’re planning on going out to a club, you’d better be prepared to stay out for the long haul…till like 5:00am, depending on what time your train home starts running.

That’s why I like taking the last train to clubs. I’m getting old, and don’t have the stamina to party from 9pm-5am, but partying from 1am-5am is doable.

So anyway, the Nambu line was 10 minutes late, meaning there was no possible way to catch the Tokyu Toyoko line from Musashi-Kosugi to Shibuya at 12:42am. So I had to give up and go back home, cursing JR for their flaky ways.

Why am I pissed at JR?

JR (Japan Railways) was once controlled by the government, but is now a private company. Unlike cities like San Francisco, or LA, Tokyo’s public transportation system is comprised of many different companies, JR being the largest.

As I mentioned before, the train I needed to transfer onto at Musashi Kosugi was the Tokyu Toyoko line, which is run by the Tokyu (“Tokyo Kyuko”) Corporation…one of JR’s competitors. So basically, by having the JR Nambu train wait for a late JR Tokaido train, JR was looking out for itself. Anyone else depending on the Nambu to transfer to the last Tokyu train was screwed!

I was lucky, as I could just walk back home…but I wonder how many other poor souls are spending the night in Musashi-Kosugi tonight thanks to JR looking out for itself. You know you’ve been in Japan too long when you start getting this pissed over a train that’s only 10 minutes late! But hey, the last train is no joke.

Actually, I was only slightly annoyed until I got home and called my friend to tell him I couldn’t make it. But I went through the roof when he passed the phone to someone who simply said, “Hello?”

I instantly recognized the voice to be one of my old-school friends from California. He recently arrived in Japan, and came to the club to say hi and surprise me! Of all the nights for JR to screw me over, why did it have to be tonight?!

I’ll never trust JR again!!!