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transport

Photo of manspreading on Japanese train stirs up heated debate and interesting solutions

Some of these ideas might actually work if they were put into action.

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New Welcome to Kanto Pasmo IC Card is the most kawaii way to ride trains on a trip to Japan

Only a limited quantity of these cute Mt Fuji sakura cards will be available.

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Osaka earthquake hits city during peak hour, passengers freed after trains suspended

Rail staff were put to the test as they guided passengers through tunnels and emergency slides during their busiest hours.

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Crow surprises Japanese commuters by attempting to buy train ticket from a machine【Video】

The clever bird even steals a customer’s credit card to pay for the train fare.

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Japanese train station stirs up nostalgia with beautiful rural setting and one-carriage train

A stop-off here is like a scene from an anime movie.

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Tokyo snowfall, the heaviest in four years, causes chaos in the capital 【Photos】

The unusual weather conditions caused major disruptions around the metropolis.

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Petition gathers support for men-only train carriages in Japan

Man (and woman) is born free and everywhere is in trains.

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Seats descend from ceiling on Japanese train to provide extra comfort for passengers【Video】

It might look like brand new technology, but this surprising system is on a train that’s been running for more than forty years.

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China’s revolutionary elevated bus takes its first ride

The world’s first elevated bus that glides over the top of moving cars began its first test run today in Hebei province, China.

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Yamaha gives us a glimpse into the future of transport with two awesome new mobility vehicles

A boat-inspired vehicle and a three-wheeler with built-in protection from the elements have been created in conjunction with a respected Japanese architect.

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New Suntory beer cans feature 15 different Shinkansen bullet trains and local landscapes

Now you can enjoy the beauty of a high-speed rail journey through Japan with this collection of exclusive picture-perfect cans.

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Japan’s newest and greatest export will be a bullet train built for India

Amidst talks that strengthened the ties between the two countries comes news that you will soon be able to ride a Shinkansen in India.

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Tokyo’s busiest train lines to get luxury “one-man” express pods by next April

Japan is well-known for its packed commuter trains. For decades, smartly dressed men and women have shuffled wordlessly into train cars each morning, all painfully aware that they will soon be getting up-close and personal with total strangers and have nowhere to run, hide, or even breathe freely until their stop. Glove-wearing station staff pack passengers in as tightly as they’ll go without them popping out the other side, each firm shove accompanied by a polite word or phrase thanking passengers for moving all the way inside the car or warning them to keep their various appendages clear of the (just barely) closing doors.

But earlier today, Japan was given a glimpse of a much more civilised, luxuriant commuting experience that may soon put an end to these sardine-can shenanigans. Better yet, this logistical revolution is coming soon: not twelve months from now, commuters will be able to zip into Tokyo in style, lying back in comfortable faux-leather chairs inside sleek, aerodynamic private pods that resemble something out of Minority Report.

This, ladies and gentlemen, is the next generation of luxury travel, and its name is Kosoku.

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Dedicated railroad otaku creates the digital swiss army knife of Tokyo Metro maps

This past year the Tokyo Metro has been brought to life in many different ways, ranging from a spaghetti-alien map to, well, a 3-D spaghetti-alien map. But it’s the latest re-imagining of the Tokyo Metro in the highly versatile SVG format that’s currently causing a lot of commotion online.

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We test the new “walking bicycle”, find out how it feels to walk and cycle at the same time

Japan has come out with some pretty awesome ideas over the years. Pocket calculators, instant noodles, even CD players were all born here, and while they were developed in response to the needs of the local market, their popularity quickly spread far and wide around the globe.

Now Japan is set to revolutionise the way we travel with a new product called the Walking Bicycle Club. Touted as the first big breakthrough in 200 years of the cycling industry, the new vehicle is powered by stepping, rather than pedalling, and is designed to make walking more fun. But how does it feel to ride a bicycle that looks more like a mobile step machine? We dropped by the store to find out.

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Bus driver in China makes pit stop to buy fish for supper, passengers perplexed

On October 20 in Taizhou City, Jiangsu Province, a bus driver on his usual route made a sudden, unscheduled stop. The reason? To purchase some tasty-looking fish from a street vendor. According to passenger and eyewitness reports, the driver suddenly pulled to a stop by the roadside (no bus stop in sight!) and hopped down from his bus to purchase “several” fish, before hopping back into his driver’s seat and resuming his route. But was this a sudden impulse buy, or did the driver just really, really need some fish?

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Futuristic tram prototype from Russia draws the envy of commuters worldwide

While dealing with the crowds and the creeps on public transportation may get on your nerves, it is usually the best way to save time and money. And last week, a Russian company unveiled a new futuristic streetcar that would make any weary commuter excited to go to work in the morning.

The next-generation streetcar looks like something out of a sci-fi movie with its trapezoidal shape and sleek black exterior. Click below to read more about the so-called “iPhone on rails” and which lucky cities are getting the tram of tomorrow!

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Fare-dodging Chinese bus passenger balances karma by repaying years of delinquent fare

In one of the few instances we can think of in which crime actually does pay, a Chinese bus passenger who spent years “ride-and-dashing” to dodge paying the fare repaid her karmic debt by depositing a total of 800RMB (approx. US$130) into the till boxes of two local buses.

Drivers of both buses apparently tried to reject her offering and have her pay the standard 2RMB fare (US$0.30), but the woman reportedly insisted, telling at least one of the drivers, “You’ve always been kind to your passengers. This is to repay the fare I’ve been skipping out on until now.”

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Cyclist in Tokyo ordered to pay $459,000 after collision leaves 74-year-old woman dead

A Tokyo court has ruled that a cyclist must pay 47 million yen (US$459,000) to the family of a 75-year-old women he collided with and killed in 2010.

The pensioner, one Mrs. Mitsuhiro Azuma, was struck by the cyclist on a pedestrian crossing in Tokyo’s Ota Ward after he ignored a red light. The court heard that Mrs. Azuma suffered a head wound when she was knocked to the ground, from which she died five days later.

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I took Nissan’s ‘Taxi of Tomorrow’ for a spin, and it’s clear New Yorkers will love it

In May 2011, Nissan was selected to create and supply the vehicle that would be the exclusive New York City taxi.

That plan hasn’t worked out so well. A series of court decisions have blocked the City from approving the NV200 as the only taxi model, in part because it’s not a hybrid, according to the New York Times.

But Nissan still has the right to bring its taxi to the streets of New York, and it sold the first one at the end of October.

This week, the automaker invited me to get a closer look at the NV200 and take a spin around Manhattan.

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