[L_Rahman]

So many things in Japan are terribly inefficient. They just get some things right that we don't out of sheer necessity. Those clearly marked subway stations are there because of the inhuman rush hour crush that is the Tokyo Metro at 5PM. No Western country would find that acceptable, there would be weekly demands to build more rail capacity.

[benrbray]

> there would be weekly demands to build more rail capacity

As an American living in Japan, part of the reason I moved here is that I think I'd die waiting for any sizable fraction of Americans to demand more rail capacity! I'll happily choose a train full of sweaty salarymen over, say, rush hour traffic in Atlanta any day!

[cmurf]

The American equivalent: demand more road capacity.

Rip out the trees! Rip out the bike lanes and side walks! Rip out a row of houses! MORE LANES! This really is generational, I only get it from baby boomer relatives and friends. X don't give a crap. And the younger generations say we should walk or bike everywhere. Will it last? Or will they be subsumed into this seemingly never ending Americana story line?

[hutzlibu]

"And the younger generations say we should walk or bike everywhere. "

And then they also say, more trains. Because you can combine walking and cycling quite good with a train.

[Hamuko]

A friend of mine who visited Japan made this observation: "They had a person doing everything. If in our parking garage we'd have a screen pointing where to park, Japan would have a man waving a light stick."

[m4rtink]

My theory is that at least some of these people are needed for managing the rush hours or possibly big regular events such as fireworks festivals that bring in hubdreds of thousands of people.

So normally they might seem unnecessary yet their role might be crucial for directing the people flows during the rush hour.

[connor4312]

I noticed this as well visiting several years ago. For instance, even though the process for hotel check-in and most other services was automated with these fancy kiosks, they still had two people behind the desk in case you needed help.

In the west, humans are becoming less employable as they're displaced by automation--https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Pq-S557XQU is a good video if you haven't seen it, and it's from before AI/ML took off! Japan seems to have mitigated it by making automation an addition, instead of a replacement, in many cases. It's certainly not the efficient, capitalist thing to do, but maybe it's the better thing to do.