that LA map looks amazing. though, it wouldve never matched tokyo for the fact that tokyo stretches out miles and miles further out of the city with trains that connect to the other prefectures. basically, you can hop on a train in tokyo and connect your way to the most southern point of japan, not the city, but the most southern or northern point in the country. GOAT train system period.
Sam. you've hit the current American zeitgeist on the head, definitely. But I'm not sure I agree completely with you on Tokyo, and even Niigata. Tokyo has great urban mass transit, no doubt. But it has also eviscerated many of its neighborhoods to make way for expressways and thoroughfares, just like NY and LA did. We can get around the city below ground, yes. But on the surface, the situation is not so different from the American cities that you rightfully disparage. I encounter this all the time in my perambulations of Tokyo: the vitality of countless neighborhoods sacrificed on the altar of the automobile. Meanwhile, Niigata has become a pretty ugly place, and for similar reasons.
that LA map looks amazing. though, it wouldve never matched tokyo for the fact that tokyo stretches out miles and miles further out of the city with trains that connect to the other prefectures. basically, you can hop on a train in tokyo and connect your way to the most southern point of japan, not the city, but the most southern or northern point in the country. GOAT train system period.
He’s got a regional map of LA too. https://youtu.be/pUU_6Ew1oCI?si=GbbrFlV8LZKx-Kd4&t=4531
With enough investment you could create a seamless regional/statewide system, though would never be like Japan with 3x population
Sam. you've hit the current American zeitgeist on the head, definitely. But I'm not sure I agree completely with you on Tokyo, and even Niigata. Tokyo has great urban mass transit, no doubt. But it has also eviscerated many of its neighborhoods to make way for expressways and thoroughfares, just like NY and LA did. We can get around the city below ground, yes. But on the surface, the situation is not so different from the American cities that you rightfully disparage. I encounter this all the time in my perambulations of Tokyo: the vitality of countless neighborhoods sacrificed on the altar of the automobile. Meanwhile, Niigata has become a pretty ugly place, and for similar reasons.
Such a great summary of the state of affairs
You write “…interlining with subways built below old streetcar routes.” Did you mean “interlinking”?