"John Yamamoto-Wilson" <johndeletethis@rarebooksinjapan.com>

> > The punctuality of Japanese trains is awesome.
>
> My wife tells me that the average delay on the Tokaido Shinkansen line is
10
> seconds.

Yes, for the departure in Tokyo, but when it arrives in Osaka, it's already
10 minutes, and in Hakata 1 hour (I know I'm always lucky).
Seriously, half of JR trains in Kansai are delayed for some reason. It's not
a big problem because you can often take the precedent one that was also
delayed.

> That reminds me of a poster put out by Network Southeast shortly after the
> asset-stripping sale of British Rail to the cowboys. They claimed in large
> letters that - give or take a percentage point or two - over 90% of their
> trains arrived on time. You had to stand really close to see the small
> print, in which it was explained that, in this context, "on time" meant
less
> than ten minutes late, and that the figures excluded "exceptional" delays,
> such as those due to the weather!

If "suicide" is considered exceptional delay, and on time means less than 20
minutes late, JRWest can claim the same. They don't give you an excuse
ticket for only 10 minutes these days. Also, nobody cares. I see only gaigin
arriving on time at work, on appointments, dates etc.

Kuri