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Taking taxis in Japan is also pretty pricy and it is considered rather as a fancy way of going to places. Buses can be convenient but it might not be on time because of traffic so, for Japanese who really appreciate punctuality might not be the best public transportation in daily life. Still, trains in Japan has its merits and demerits and here is a few interesting facts about them.
Trains in Japan are punctual
As of 2016, JR group, a major Japanese railway operator faces an average of under 1 minute delay. It is also sad that Shinkansen also known as bullet trains in Japan, faces about 20 seconds annual delay. Other trains are said to get about 50 second delayed in average. This is very important for Japanese since their daily life such as work or school depend on the punctuality of trains. Still, when there is a delay more than five minutes (most of the time caused by rain or an accident with passengers at a train station) in a train line, the train operator company provides a 遅延証明書(Chien shomeisho), a delay certificate so that the passengers can submit to their bosses or teachers to prove that the delay is not their fault. This is why train operator companies take punctuality very seriously in Japan.
Female only carriages
Since a lot of times it gets crazy packed in trains, people end up pushing or just getting in contact with others people's body. In the aim to avoid 痴漢 (chikan) sexual harrasment in trains, train operator companies set women only carriages. It is of course a normal carriage but it is exclusive to women during rush hour in the morning and at night. I remember getting in a female only carriage in the morning and sometimes an elderly man or a man that hopped in the train last second would be stared at and some women would find it totally inappropriate. Only later on when the train gets filled with women they realize they have made a mistake to try and go for the most empty carriage and take a seat there. I also appreciated this women only cart because as women are generally shorter than men, it is hard to keep balance or even breath when you are surrounded by tall guys in a train. In fact there was this one time I almost passed out in the train because I couldn't look up and breath. The train staff even saw me on my knees at the train station trying catch a breath and asked me if I was ok after an hour of a torturing train ride.
Also, often there are mirrors attached to the walls of trains and train stations so that women can see what the person behind is doing. This way women can be more aware of what is going on and she can protect herself for any potential sexual harassment.
IC cards are pretty convenient
You can use an IC commuter pass in Japan instead of buying tickets every time you go on a train. This IC card can come in handy since as long as it is charged, you can use it to buy beverages at vending machines, buy anything at convenient stores or any restaurant or stores that accepts electronic money or IC card. You can always accumulate points out of each buy if you synchronize it to your credit card and you can turn those points in to discounts in the future.
If someone commits suicide jumping in front the train, the family has to pay a compensation fee
If someone commits suicide jumping in front of a train, that person is responsible for any damage it causes to the train operator company. Since the person is dead by commenting suicide, the responsibility of paying the compensation fee goes to the family automatically. The price van vary from million to billion yen. This money will most likely cover the cleaning and fixing of the train and rail, as well as any possible delay it caused troubling many passengers.
Oshiaya is quite common
Oshiya or pusher is quite common in trains in Japan especially during rush hour. Like I mentioned before, trains get PACKED in Japan and it is common for train station staff to come over in front of the train doors and forcefully push the passengers inside the train. It is quite common and very stressful. Believe me after a long day at work or school, the rush hour in trains is the last thing you want to go though in the end of the day.
Those were some interesting facts about Japanese trains. I personally hope one day Japanese train operator companies come up with a way to avoid packed trains.