Just before the world realised what we were up against with COVID-19, I spent a few days in Tokyo. As always, Tokyo was crowded and rushed. While it is easy to find a quiet spot to be alone in Tokyo, the same cannot be said for its railway system. The city is home to many of the world’s busiest train stations and at the top of that list is Shinjuku. Millions of passengers daily pass through that station alone as they make their journeys across Tokyo.
Tokyo’s train system fascinates me. When I was growing up, I lived in a village with just four buses a day that would take us to the nearest station on Melbourne’s metro system. If, and that’s a big if, the trains would even run, it was a two-or-more-hour journey into the heart of the city. While Melbourne can barely keep a few commuter trains a day running, Tokyo is able to have thousands of trains running between thousands of stations moving millions of people without so much as a delay. Watching this happen is like being privy to some sort of arcane magic to me. There’s nothing quite like it. I certainly mean to get back and document the system more, but for now, I hope you enjoy these few frames from my short stay.
