Tokyo’s transportation network is as staggeringly efficient as it is complex. I don’t think I ever had to wait more than a minute or two for a train to arrive and while it sometimes get crowded at rush hour it wasn’t too uncomfortable since everyone is so polite.
I’ve noticed on recent trips outside London that being a “Londoner” tends to make you a bit of a snob towards the rest of the UK. A few weeks ago I visited a mid-sized town approximately 1.5 hours north of London. Upon arrival at the tiny railway station there could be seen a group of around 10 middle-aged men all looking rather dishevelled and bored. OK, I thought, they must be waiting for the next train out of this middle-of-nowhere hole. Two hours later when I returned to take the train back to London I was surprised to see that they were still there – upon closer inspection I noticed they were all carrying small notepads and some had cameras – this could only…