No Smoku on the Tohoku
04/14/2007 @ 12:00 am
I used to go nuts as a kid when I entered into the blue smoke filled trains in Japan. I honestly wondered if the anti-smoking fever would ever capture Japan’s imagination.
Well, today I rode on the Tohoku Shinkansen, which I was so pleased to see was completely smoke free. Yay! I took this photo of about a half-dozen people making a beeline for the smoking chamber from the shinkansen, just after it pulled into Hachinohe, after having been forced to endure clean(ish) air for their entire ride. Poor souls.
Don’t they have a smoking train on the shinkansen anymore?
April 14th, 2007 at 1:54 amThe Tokaido-sen has a few cars (or maybe just even a couple). But the Tohoku has gone completely smoke free. People are saying it’s just a matter of time until all the trains are completely smoke free. But we’ll see. In any case, I certainly never thought I’d see a completely smoke free train!
April 14th, 2007 at 6:24 amThese little smoking cubicles that are getting installed everwhere seem to be a subtle form of public humiliation. A dirty glass box, and everyone can watch the addicts getting their fixes.
The problem is that I’ve seeen kids getting dragged in there with their parents. Like a simulated visit to Langzhou.
April 14th, 2007 at 8:00 am