Public Transportation and Smart Growth

They have three more subway lines in the central city than they did when I lived there in the 1970s. In addition, they have built rail lines to growing exurban areas and handy links between existing ones.

I remember coming back in 1985 after an eight-year absence and being told, "To get there, you take the Hanzômon Line to Kôjimachi..." and responding, "Wait a minute, the Hanzômon Line? Never heard of it."

When I lived there, they had one Shinkansen line from Tokyo to Hakata, on the northeastern edge of the island of Kyushu. Now they have extended it all the way to the southern end of Kyushu, as well as adding lines to Niigata, to Nagano (for the 1998 Winter Olympics), and Aomori (on the northern tip of the main island). They are extending that line into Hokkaido, are planning a second "back door" line from Tokyo to Osaka, and plan to link up some of the other lines.

If oil shortages ever hit (and they were caught short during the oil crisis of the early 1970s), they'll be readier than most countries. (Their rail system is all electric, and in addition to their now decommissioned nuclear power stations, they have hydroelectric stations and ones that burn urban trash)