Will Miss #401 - the blue lights

I live along a Japan Railway (JR) line that is famous for attracting suicidal jumpers. The line is named the Chuo line, and foreigners waggishly call it the "Chuocide" line because it so frequently is disrupted by those intent on offing themselves. JR obviously would rather this not happen, but rather than do what many subways have done and put up walls with electronic gates that disallow

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Will Miss #270 - trains crossing closeby

I rarely rode public transport back home because I grew up in a rural area. My main experience with it was riding the Cal Train to San Mateo once a week and riding the Boston subway on a few occasions. The Cal Train were lonely and infrequent, so the experience of trains whizzing by within what feels like inches of one another at high speed carries a particular sense of excitement.

There's

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Will Miss #256 - air conditioned waiting areas

An enclosed waiting space (left) with air conditioning on the Keio line train platform.
Our last sojourn to Costco occurred in the humidity of the rainy season in June. The trip takes about 5.5 hours round-trip and requires a fair amount of train riding and some transfers. My husband and I were gratified to find the enclosed waiting spaces on the platform were air conditioned. They offered very

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