A word about the metro

The subway and train system in Japan is a miracle of efficiency and cleanliness. Old news - true news.

Here are some random observations:

Priority seats are for elderly, pregnant women, people with small children. Mostly I see young people texting on their phones and they don't get up for any of the above-mentioned groups.

Though cell phones are EVERYWHERE, you don't hear them and you don't see or hear people talking on them very often. In fact, hardly at all. Mostly it's texting or watching videos. In fact, a packed subway train is still quieter than the Teen Area in the afternoon.

Stations are not very disabled friendly and one will see the frail elderly and physically disabled struggling up mountains of stairs. With the energy cutbacks since the tsunami, escalators are rotated to be out of service. There are elevators, but you must know where to look.

Legendary helpfulness is true. Every time I've asked for help, people go out of their way to figure out what I need. One man was so afraid he had given me the wrong information, he came back to the platform to check it was right the right track.