Updated observations of things Japanese

I'm now in Kyoto, visiting RIMS until beginning of April, as part of a sabbatical.

Coming back, I'm always impressed, amazed, thrown off, and feeling nostalgic about the way things are done in Japan. As I've been coming here on and off for over 20 years, one can track some of the changes as well as the sameness. I want to gather some of these thoughts here on these pages.

The single most impressive thing about Japan today, in my mind, is the transportation system. It's not just that the trains are almost without exception right on time, down to seconds. There are just so many little things that make it work so smooth. They can schedule two train lines to arrive on either side of a platform, allowing people to switch before taking off, all within about a minute (see e.g., O-okayama subway/commuter train station near Tokyo Institute of Technology). The main lines have several speeds of trains: local, rapid, limited express, express, super-express etc. When going from A to B on that line, you can save time by first moving to a major station where you can catch an express, taking it for the bulk of the way, and finishing with another local or rapid at the end. The turnstiles are a marvel in efficiency, allowing me to walk without stopping at 7 kph through it, inserting the ticket at the front and picking on the way out. Nowhere else that I have been has it worked nearly so smoothly. You can even insert two tickets, e.g. one with the route ticket and the other for the express/bullet train.

There did not seem much to commend the bus system for, however. It has good coverage and fairly frequent schedule, but are generally not faster than bicycling, even when discounting the waiting time. Ok, so I bike faster than others, but in general, the car traffic in Kyoto just moves slowly, with all these traffic lights, bicycles and pedestrians. The buses are though quite well organized. A machine at the driver allows you to change coins and bills for smaller coins, in order to get the exact change. It then counts the amount that you deposit as fare. A large screen (now 17 inch flat panel) shows the name of the next stop, and an announcement is also made well ahead of time. The driver posts a panel with his name to show who is responsible for the ride. The driving is neither fast nor slow, but it is deliberately gentle for those that are standing. The waiting booths will display the map for all the buses stopping at that stop along with the complete schedule for that particular stop. Last but not the least, the booths now are in remote contact with the incoming buses, displaying signs when the bus is about 3 minutes away, again when 2 minutes away, and finally when about to arrive. Where else can you match this?

This spiel about the impressive automation in Japan breaks down in other circumstances. I went to one of the major banks to open account. A single hall contained about 40-50 bank workers, all busily shuffling around. I had prepared all the documents needed, so I did manage to go back with a new account, but it sure took a while. Everyone was working really hard -- a crucial characteristic in Japan -- it just did not look like very smart operation. I didn't see anyone using computers; it was largely the old system: somebody fills out something, that is brought by a second person to a third person, who works on his stack, and forwards it to the fourth person, this is checked by a fifth person, and then carried back by a sixth person back to the first person. Isn't this where CS and IT needs to be headed, to capture the social processes to improve effectiveness?