Originally Posted by
keihin_242
Shinkansen stopping at your door? Well that's a combustible straw man if I ever saw one.
Maybe... but no more so than proposing through trains at Tokyo station. Both expensive propositions that would benefit very few people.
Where do you get this idea that people don't pass through Tokyo? Are you aware there are not a few people in Japan who don't think Tokyo is the cat's arse and would rather not be forced to stop there?
Yes. I'm sure there are one or two.... maybe even a dozen such people.
Have you ever been outside of Tokyo?
Yes. Narita Airport.....many times.
I have endured on the level of 250+ transfers at Tokyo station, of which around half were to/from the Shinkansen.
I've probably done 25k+ train transfers at various stations in Tokyo. Not that hard.... and.... I guess you don't remember the days when one had to schlep up to Omiya to get on the Tohoku Shinkansen.
There are always plenty of people using the Tokaido-Tohoku transfer gate.
Not that many and they're easy to spot. They're the ones carrying their stuff in shopping bags and cardboard boxes instead of suitcases.
I'll ask again - why is it necessary to force all those people to get off the train?
Force? Hardly. It's a privilege for them to be able to breathe the same rarefied air as the citizens of Tokyo. They should be required to pay a fee.