Ryan Ginstrom wrote:

> The punctuality of Japanese trains is awesome.

My wife tells me that the average delay on the Tokaido Shinkansen line is 10
seconds.

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!

--
John
http://rarebooksinjapan.com