As we sit on a bus in LA like traffic with LA like smog in LA like hills, somewhere near Osaka, it's clear that trains are the way to travel in this country. I don't know why we're on a bus... maybe too hard to get where we're going, but the train would most certainly be nicer and probably faster to most destinations. The trains are fast, clean and best of all, they are everywhere, interconnecting in massive central train depots in the major cities that we've been in, including Tokyo, Osaka and Kyoto and always punctual. For commuter trains you don't need a schedule (and I didn't see any)... just wait a few minutes and a train arrives.
The experience of train riding here, especially in larger cities like Tokyo and Osaka starts with entering the station with a billion other people and approaching the mind-boggling transit diagrams and anxiety inducing ticket machines with enough on-screen functions, multiple keypads, buttons and flashing lights to put a Vegas slot machine to shame, all labeled and explained in Japanese, which, of course, means all 3 Japanese character sets--the traditional Kanji, derived from Chinese characters, and Hiragana and Katagana cursive shorthand characters for Japanese and foreign words. Walking up to these machines is a stressful experience for Westerners as different train lines have different machines so each trip may be new experience. Just searching for the English button is enough to induce a sweat as people quickly stack up behind while you stand there like an idiot trying to figure out which button to push. Finally you just give up and try to figure out which slot to put money in and just hope for the best. We usually go as a group, so the first person to figure it all out runs around assisting the others, coaxing them gently out of their panicked state with helpful comments like 'can't you read? it's right there in plain Japanese!'
The next step is to find the actual train, no easy feat due to the fact that there are multiple train lines and an endless array of passageways that go up, down and all directions north, south, east and west and a few in between. Although many of the signs have a little English, its still confusing and we usually resort to asking passersby for assistance since we quickly discovered that the Japanese, even when they speak no English, are incredibly eager to be helpful, often resorting to taking us where we want to go rather than try to explain it. Once on the platform, trains are coming and going every few minutes... it's as if every hour is rush hour and watch out when the real rush hour happens, because it is truly out of control, with a tidal wave of people flowing from the trains through the station. Once on board, the advertising assault begins with ads covering every conceivable surface, hanging from the ceiling, covering the hand ring straps and even plastered on the windows. Chaotic as it all seems, there sense of efficiency, as the pre-boarding sensory overload dissipates and calm is restored by the clean, cool and quiet ride, even when the trains are near capacity.
As we sit on a bus in LA like traffic with LA like smog in LA like hills, somewhere near Osaka, it's clear that trains are the way to travel in this country. I don't know why we're on a bus... maybe too hard to get where we're going, but the train would most certainly be nicer and probably faster to most destinations. The trains are fast, clean and best of all, they are everywhere, interconnecting in massive central train depots in the major cities that we've been in, including Tokyo, Osaka and Kyoto and always punctual. For commuter trains you don't need a schedule (and I didn't see any)... just wait a few minutes and a train arrives. 
The experience of train riding here, especially in larger cities like Tokyo and Osaka starts with entering the station with a billion other people and approaching the mind-boggling transit diagrams and anxiety inducing ticket machines with enough on-screen functions, multiple keypads, buttons and flashing lights to put a Vegas slot machine to shame, all labeled and explained in Japanese, which, of course, means all 3 Japanese character sets--the traditional Kanji, derived from Chinese characters, and Hiragana and Katagana cursive shorthand characters for Japanese and foreign words. Walking up to these machines is a stressful experience for Westerners as different train lines have different machines so each trip may be new experience. Just searching for the English button is enough to induce a sweat as people quickly stack up behind while you stand there like an idiot trying to figure out which button to push. Finally you just give up and try to figure out which slot to put money in and just hope for the best. We usually go as a group, so the first person to figure it all out runs around assisting the others, coaxing them gently out of their panicked state with helpful comments like 'can't you read? it's right there in plain Japanese!'
The next step is to find the actual train, no easy feat due to the fact that there are multiple train lines and an endless array of passageways that go up, down and all directions north, south, east and west and a few in between. Although many of the signs have a little English, its still confusing and we usually resort to asking passersby for assistance since we quickly discovered that the Japanese, even when they speak no English, are incredibly eager to be helpful, often resorting to taking us where we want to go rather than try to explain it. Once on the platform, trains are coming and going every few minutes... it's as if every hour is rush hour and watch out when the real rush hour happens, because it is truly out of control, with a tidal wave of people flowing from the trains through the station. Once on board, the advertising assault begins with ads covering every conceivable surface, hanging from the ceiling, covering the hand ring straps and even plastered on the windows. Chaotic as it all seems, there sense of efficiency, as the pre-boarding sensory overload dissipates and calm is restored by the clean, cool and quiet ride, even when the trains are near capacity.
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