ANA starts testing semi-autonomous bus at Haneda Airport for passengers and staff
ANA Holdings Inc. said Wednesday it had started testing a semi-autonomous bus that it plans to use to transport passengers and staff working at Haneda Airport in Tokyo. The operator of All Nippon Airways Co. will conduct the test with the electric bus, which is ...
Late-night train services eyed for regional venues during Tokyo Olympics
The Tokyo Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games and Tokyo Metropolitan Government said Wednesday they were studying plans to offer special late-night train services for those watching soccer matches at three regional venues during the Summer Games. The three venues in Sapporo, Rifu ...
Paralympic pressure: Progress doubted on barrier-free access push
Japan is accelerating efforts to improve access to accommodations and transport for the Paralympics, but people with disabilities are questioning whether enough is being done. While the games are being touted as a chance to create a more inclusive society, 66 percent of respondents to ...
2020 Olympics fuel race to monetize autonomous driving
One day in December, a self-driving bus in Gunma completed an 18-km run from Maebashi to Shibukawa and back, dropping fare-paying passengers off at designated stops and navigating public roads. The driver, who got the bus humming with the push of a button, stayed behind ...
Renovated Shibuya subway station with M-shaped roof open for business
Tokyo's oldest subway line got a brand-new station Friday in the tourism and nightlife hub of Shibuya, which is rapidly transforming ahead of the Olympics this summer. The Ginza Line's new Shibuya Station has a platform that's twice as wide as before at 12 meters ...
Can Tokyo's soft power push ensure a positive Olympic legacy?
When the capital hosted the Olympic Games over half a century ago, it was heralded as a symbol of Japan's postwar recovery. This time around, Tokyo appears keen on trading brick and mortar for hearts and minds. One-hundred kilometers of highways were freshly laid during ...
Japanese heading home for New Year's holidays crowd trains and airports
People heading to their hometowns or going abroad for the New Year’s holidays crowd train stations, airports and roads in the Tokyo metropolitan area.
Robots cleaning up at stations and airports in labor-hungry Japan
More and more unmanned cleaning robots are being used in Japan, mainly at public transportation facilities, amid severe labor shortages. Faced with difficulties securing enough workers, Central Japan Railway Co. started using four robots this year to clean Nagoya Station and other locations, hoping that ...
Kansai railways branch out into new businesses to head off depopulation
As part of efforts to raise earnings before population decline strikes their service areas, railways in the Kansai region are trying to expand into other businesses. West Japan Railway Co. (JR West), for example, is marketing fish raised in land-based aquaculture facilities. It began cultivating ...
Japan considers law requiring local governments to fill transport gaps in rural areas
The transport ministry is considering a new system to help maintain public transport services in nonurban areas at a time when the population has been declining. The system will call on governments to create plans for securing means of public transportation and seek new service ...
A ferry connecting Uno Port in Okayama Prefecture and Takamatsu Port in Kagawa Prefecture has ceased services after 109 years. The ferry completed its last trip across the Seto Inland Sea on Sunday night after a long-term decrease in passengers led to the deterioration of ...
Hiroshima's middle school students wear bike helmets, so why not high schoolers?
A 33-year-old housewife in the city of Kure phoned the Chugoku Shimbun one day to convey her concern about her sixth-grade son. He will be attending a junior high school starting next spring and will be traveling there by bicycle, but he does not ...
