Japanese Car Rental Firms Discover New Trend Of Renting Vehicles For A Nap Or Quiet Lunch
The title of this post is the same as that of this story on The World News.
It was flagged up first on BBC Breakfast.
But is it any difference to my behaviour?
I generally get up, do all my daily chores and have a bath.
Then, I’ll go out about nine and take an Overground train or a bus to somewhere quiet for breakfast.
I will sometimes go as far as Richmond for breakfast in Leon.
And if the weather is hot like is it is now, I might even just sit on an air-conditioned train and read my paper or watch the news on my phone, stopping where I fancy for a coffee or a drink.
All I need to ensure, is that at some point, I stop off at a Marks and Spencer to get the food I need for supper.
Courtesy of my Freedom Pass, all this travel costs me a big fat zilch.
I call it Freedoming.
Today, though I’m roaming a bit further; Manchester. Hopefully, I’ll get a ride in one of the new Class 195 trains to Manchester Airport.
Stop It! Phone App Cries Out To Deter Japan Subway Gropers
The title of this post, is the same as that of an article on page 31 of today’s Times.
An app has been developed and deployed in Japan, where if a lady being groped on the Subway if she presses a button on the app, it displays an appropriate message on her phone.
If the groper persists, then another button, shouts out a message.
As a regular traveller on crowded London Underground and Overground trains, I know groping goes on, but I have never seen it happen, except between obviously consenting couples, who arrived and left together.
Although, you do get the odd bumping at times, but usually smiles and a sorry, say it is a genuine accident.
A Proposed Trip To Japan
Over the last few months, I have made references to battery trains built by Hitachi running in Japan.
C and myself, bought the guide for Japan, but we didn’t get far in planning a holiday there, as she became ill, with the cancer that killed her.
So perhaps now is the time to go to Japan and explore.
- The plan would be to spend a couple of weeks or so at the end of March, in a decent hotel in Tokyo and explore the country by train.
- Most of the places, I want to visit are served by bullet trains.
- I might also have a few days in South Korea.
If anybody has any ideas or suggestions, then please contact me.
Japanese Trains With Batteries
If Bombardier in Derby and the Germans in Chemnitz (Karl Marx Stadt to Jeremy and the Corbedians) are addressing battery technology, you could be sure that the Japanese would have ideas and there is this article in Railway Gazette, which is entitled Emergency batteries for Tokyo Metro trains.
This is said.
Nippon Sharyo Series 1000 trainsets operating on Tokyo Metro’s Ginza Line have been fitted with Toshiba onboard emergency batteries so that they can reach the next station under their own power in the event of a traction supply failure.
Toshiba says the SCiB lithium-ion battery is well-suited to emergency use, being resistant to external shock, internal short circuits and thermal runaway. It recharges rapidly, has a long life and a high effective capacity over a wide range of environmental conditions.
The battery draws power from the third rail during normal operation, and can supply the traction system in the event of power outage or other emergency. It can also be used for train movements within depots.
I also said this in Bombardier’s Plug-and-Play Train,
I wouldn’t rule out that all Class 345 trains were fitted with some form of onboard energy storage.
The main reasons are all given in the article about Japanese trains.
Battery Trains In Japan
Some think I’m wrong about battery trains and believe they will never catch on! But none of the doubters are engineers or physicists, and perhaps more importantly none rode the amazing Class 379 BEMU, when it was being trialled last year in Essex.
I have just searched for battery trains and found this article on the Rail Journal web site entitled Battery-Electric Trains For Japan’s Oga Line. This is said.
EAST Japan Railway Company (JR East) has announced plans to carry out trials with ac battery-electric multiple units (BEMUs) on the 26.6km Oga Line in Japan’s northern Akita prefecture from Spring 2017.
But this is not an experiment, as this is said later.
The Oga Line will be the second line on the JR east network to benefit from BEMU operation, following the introduction of EV-E301 series trains on the Karasuyama Line in Tochigi Prefecture in March 2014.
If the Japanese use BEMU (IPEMU in the UK!) technology in daily service, it can’t be their version of Mickey Mouse! The train is called an EV-E301, and looks a professional train, even if a bit spartan for use in the UK.
I just wonder when George Osborne makes his Autumn Statement today, will he be announcing new battery-electric trains or IPEMUs for all?
In my view, it’s the only way to electrify large parts of the UK and reduce the costs of electrification!
The Most Surprising News Of The Day
I must say, I was surprised that Hitachi are going to make London the worldwide headquarters of their rail business.
It is reported here on the BBC.
Let’s All Push Together
This story shows how teamwork and lots of people can do things that many would think impossible.
Japanese Do Things Differently
This report from the BBC shows that the Japanese do things differently.
A prominent Japanese politician has described as “necessary” the system by which women were forced to become prostitutes for World War II troops.
Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto said the “comfort women” gave soldiers putting their lives at risk a chance “to rest”.
He also said last year, that Japan needed a dictatorship.
I would hope that any British, American or European politician, who made statements like this, would be promptly booted out of office.
Yorkshire Would Be Eleventh In The Medal Table
Yorkshire Radio reporter, Jonathan Buchan calculated yesterday, that Britain’s largest county, Yorkshire would be eleventh in the Olympic medal table above Japan, South Africa and Australia. Since then the Brownlee brothers have won a gold and a bronze medal, so they must have moved up a bit.
If they get a couple more, they might just edge above Germany. They’re probably well above Prussia already!
Japan Joins the Evil Empire
Yesterday, Japan hanged three men.
The death penalty is barbaric, but in Japan, they just take you in the morning and hang you, after you might have been in jail for twenty or thirty years. Your relatives aren’ even told.
That though is truly barbaric. Even when we had the death penalty, it was carried out as humanely as possible, according to the standards of the time.
So Japan now joins the Evil Empire of Iran, China and the United States.
The Anonymous Widower 