Japan's trains have some problems

The Japanese rail network is idolised around the world, from the impressive Shinkansen bullet trains to the efficient commuter lines of Tokyo. But it has problems, many of them quite large, and this video attempts to raise some of them.
It is not intending to be a balanced, overall view of Japan's railways, if I were to do that it would be largely positive, but rather a highlighting of criticism that is often brushed "under the rug" in the midst of praise.
Sources and credit are linked in a Google Docs file - this video is so huge it would have exceeded KZbin's character limit!: docs.google.com/document/d/12...
A special thanks must be given here to Shioyama of the Shioyama Railway Channel, who allowed me to use his footage of the Japanese and Swiss rail networks. Here is his channel (it's in Japanese!): / @shioyama_railway_channel
The Music was by Bad Snacks, titled "A Caring Friend" and "Wallflowers".
#japan

[@shioyama_railway_channel]

Thanks for featuring my footage!

[@stationshunter]

This bought up a lot of good points half the reason why people act like Japan's a superpower in the railways is probably due to them only ever showing the good part.

[@harinashi5095]

I am Japanese. The video is mostly correct about JR. However, this only explains 40% of Japan's railways. The total number of annual train passengers in Japan is 20 billion, of which 60% are private railway users.

[@Tokax]

As a a Japanese I think this video covers Japans problems as a whole and not just JR, the economical and population decline mentioned really shows some of the major problems the country has and the strict workplace also is present around the nation with some of my family facing harsh reprimand in other jobs. While this video does cover the countries problems long and short term, the conclusion is well said estimating the future we must meet

[@momo1435]

You got to keep in mind that rural Japan is not the same as rural UK. In terms of landscape 90% of Japan is similar to the Scottish Highlands, although for the most part with a warmer climate. So obviously local railway lines are slower since many of them have to navigate through hills and valleys in area's that have always been sparsely populated. If Beeching would have gone through Japan it would only have the Shinkansen lines, plus some connecting lines right now. The fact that many of the rural lines are only now in danger of closure is really remarkable.

[@namenamename390]

Side note on rural transit in Germany, I think it's far more punctual than you'd expect. The most delay-prone places in Germany are the most used ones. Makes sense, the more trains are running through a place, the worse the cascading delays get. A line with one train per hour, such as my local one, really doesn't have many chances to get delayed, apart from outright failures or disasters or whatever, there isn't anything that could cause big delays. So oddly enough, the rural lines can end up more reliable than the most important corridors in the country.

[@zathary564]

To be fair, a lot of JR's problems are caused by Japan's problems in general. The population decline that causes lines to get closed down isn't gonna stop just because the trains are still operating. There's that one story of the train line that only runs to serve one high school girl that takes it everyday, until she graduates and it finally closes. The largely stagnating economy makes it hard to make new investments, only to keep up maintenance. As a private public transport company, they have the hard to balance responsibility to profits but also to society. Its understandable why they're facing issues.

[@lordgemini2376]

It's at least good to see some of the negatives of the Japanese railways highlighted for some balance, no matter how great it really is overall. Thanks for the video!

[@fbiopenup6534]

Thank you for making this. People too often talk about perfection, when we should be striving for improvement.

[@Thom-TRA]

When a video almost exclusively focuses on JR, it betrays that the creator lacks a fundamental understanding of the Japanese railway system. This completely ignores the dozens of successful private operators whose roles in society uniquely contribute to the country’s rail history.

[@anoniaino]

The reason for massive delays on the few Swiss trains that are delayed is that they often fit them into the next slot in the clock face schedule so as that you can still have a timed interchange with your next train.

[@rolandharmer6402]

Thank you for this fascinating view. You could, I think, say the same about France. Many are dazzled by the TGV and high speed lines but on many of the rural lines the trains run quite slowly and there has been a gradual run down of secondary routes with some branch lines closing. Thankfully the government is planning to reverse this decline.

[@ziweijun1654]

Watching the second part which criticizes the station design really upset me. While I like and respect the British designs of the stations, I don’t think Japan stations have any problems or aren’t as favorable as British ones. Japan stations often integrate super well with other services like commercials, office buildings etc, so it provides the convenience that old British stations can’t. Shinjuku station, which doesn’t look good at all, integrated seamlessly with a ton of services, including a large bus terminal, both subway and trains, and of course stores, and offices. Do I want a station that looks good but provides limited services, or a station that looks “bad” (modern though) but provides everything I need? I’d say both are equally fine!

[@Rollermonkey1]

I can't tell if that "Tokyo" rail map includes the subway or private (non-JR) rail operator lines? It's definitely also hyper-deformed, as that loop in the bottom right appears to be the entire prefecture of Chiba, and the bottom center is Kanagawa prefecture. It's therefore including Yokohama (3.5m), Kawasaki (1.5m), Saitama (1.3m) and SIXTEEN other 'towns' with populations over 100k. This all makes the Tokyo map look both better and worse than it actually is.

[@loco043]

Most Japan "Main Line" services has been replaced by Shinkansen, running on standard gauge offering much higher speeds. The legacy rail system thus complements the Shinkansen network, where a combination of both (with timed transfers/through running e.g. mini shinkansens) effectively decreasing travel times for the average passenger. The branch line speeds are not dissimilar with the UK - 70mph on the West Highland line, 60mph on the Heart of Wales Line. The fastest narrow gauge services once reached 160kph/100mph on the Hokuhoku Line, but was no longer necessary given the opening of the parallel Hokuriku Shinkansen. The Japanese train network might not be the best as some might think, but it is still important to learn from international best practices and their mistakes in order to build a world-leading system.

[@sbeve7445]

The raise in JR rail pass is largely due to the severe over tourism after lifting COVID restrictions, and the JR company has to limit the passengers and reduce over crowding.

[@TheRealUnconnected]

This was an enjoyable video, but i feel like you have never been to Japan and therefore maybe is not the best person to be talking about this. I live in Japan and here are a few of my thoughts on some of your comments.

[@melaniedrogr951]

except tokyo does have a main station, having to switch main stations in cities like london and paris is always a pain (and paris has direct connections between every main tgv station at least)

[@user-rw6ww6xl4m]

Some additional pushback beyond what's already been offered:

[@StarboardPitotTube]

It's interesting that you didn't mention any of the 10 major private railway companies, because THESE are the ones that hold sway over Japan's cities, not JR.