This is how I found the typical train station in Tokyo. It’s clean.
It’s well-lit. The travellers are well-mannered and perfectly comfortable.
It isn’t so rare that six-year-olds catch the train to school and back again, six days a week, and travel alone.
There are bright signs in Japanese and English that tell you where you are now and which stations
you’ll find immediately up- and down-line from here. There is always a map of the entire line.
And pretty much, when you step away from the map, every sign you see will be in Japanese.
Music announces arriving and departing trains, and a pleasant voice will identify them for you.
Restaurants and food stands here feature neighborhood treats and national favorites. I’m told that
some are so appreciated that people will take the train to eat with their friends—in a train station.
The bigger stations will have dozens of fashion boutiques, competing with the famous department stores that crowd
around the stations. Plus, they’ll offer specialty gifts from all over Japan, so you can bring something nice home to the family
and no one will confront you about being late, somewhere else, doing something you’d very much like to keep secret.