Why Japanese trains are so expensive

If you’ve ever wondered why trains in Japan can be so expensive, here’s the reason….

Japan Rail (JR) are starting to label all their stations with a number then a letter for the line name. Great idea, that will make things a lot easier for a lot of people. So they have to change all the signs over. OK, fair enough. And how many people does it take to put up a 10cm x 60cm plastic sign?

Four. Yep four people, one to put up the sign, one to hold the ladder and 2 to watch them. If it was a joke it wouldn’t be funny, but it’s true and here’s the photo to prove it. Here’s where your train fares really go! Now how can I get an easy job like that….


If you’d like to add to this post, have a look at the Genki English forum.

Richard Graham

Hello, I'm Richard Graham. When I was a kid I found school to be sooooo boring... So I transformed my way of teaching. I listened to what the kids were really wanting to say and taught it in ways they really wanted to learn. The results were magical. Now I help teachers just like you teach amazing lessons and double your incomes!