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We're flocking there in unprecedented numbers, thanks to a favourable exchange rate - and possibly a touch of Bali fatigue. And once there, we're blown away by Japan's beauty, its food and its politeness. And the fact everything works.
The trains run on time and run everywhere. The streets are scrupulously clean. The traffic is manageable. And the roads themselves are works of art compared to our kidney-jarring, potholed obstacle courses.
And if a pothole does appear in Japan, it's fixed immediately - not patched but cut out, cleaned and replaced entirely with four layers of sub-grade, sub-base, base and surface, what's called the four-layer cake. The surface is even colour-matched so once the work is done, there's no evidence left behind. Best of all, next time it rains, the pothole doesn't reappear.
The smooth surface isn't the only remarkable difference with Japanese roads. They're also blissfully free of the corpulent SUVs and utes that clog up our cities like cholesterol in hardened arteries. Not only that, but Japan has turned around what was once a terrible road safety record.
Road deaths in Japan are now six times lower than they were in the 1960s. Per capita, they're now at 2.24 per 100,000 people while Australia's are at 4.54 per 100,000. One of the reasons is the rapid development of Japan's fast rail network and its urban metro services. There are fewer road deaths in Japan because people don't have to drive as much as we do.
And when they do drive, they get behind the wheels of smaller vehicles much better suited to the urban environment. Micro - or kei - cars are ubiquitous. And city tradies don't get around in overblown Hiluxes and Ford Rangers; they manage just fine in micro vans.
Walk the back streets of neighbourhoods in Tokyo or Osaka and you'll see these micro cars stashed in tiny spots in front yards but rarely parked on the streets. To own a car in Japan you have to provide a certificate showing you have somewhere to park it overnight that isn't on the street. This improves visibility around intersections and allows more room for pedestrians and cyclists.
Outside our cities, the appeal of larger vehicles is understandable. Long distances separate us and apart from a few major highways, our roads are pretty substandard. But within the cities, the addiction to large vehicles makes no sense.
According to Statista, Australia reached its peak of urbanisation in 2022. That year, 86.49 per cent of us lived in an urban setting. We're not quite as urbanised as Japan at 91.9 per cent but we're close. And as our cities grow denser, we'll have to curb our appetite for unnecessarily large vehicles and invest more in public transport systems that are fast, frequent, reliable and go to the places we need to reach.
Which gets me to the question: whatever happened to Anthony Albanese's vision for very fast rail?
There was a time you'd know an election was in the offing because Albo would start ruminating about Australia's need for fast rail. It's all gone quiet on that front.
The last we heard about it was in January, when $80 million was committed by the federal government to start work on a business case for a high-speed rail link between Newcastle and Sydney. Last year, the government established the High Speed Rail Authority, saying it would tip in half a billion dollars towards establishing an east coast high speed rail network.
Sadly, it's all likely to come to nothing. Too costly. Too ambitious. We're told the distances are too long but Melbourne to Sydney is 876km and Tokyo to Hiroshima is 804km, and it's connected by the high-speed Shinkansen. And spare a thought for the poor old airlines like Qantas which would suffer if there was ever a viable alternative.
We'll have nuclear submarines long before we get high speed rail.
HAVE YOUR SAY: Nuclear submarines or high-speed rail? Which would be a better investment for the nation? Will we ever wean ourselves off oversized SUVs and utes, especially in the cities? Email us: echidna@theechidna.com.au
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IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:
- A portrait of Australian billionaire Gina Rinehart may light up Times Square, thanks to an online fundraiser. Australian comedian Dan Ilic's indiegogo campaign has reached its goal of raising $30,000 to display Ms Rinehart on the New York billboards.
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- A judge has jailed a businessman over a "breathtaking" National Disability Insurance Scheme fraud that conned international investors into handing over tens of millions of dollars. Demetrios "James" Charisiou was jailed for up to 12 years on Friday after he duped two Korean-based firms into giving his company LBA Capital almost $395 million in credit under the guise of investing in NDIS-supported properties in Melbourne.
THEY SAID IT: "Our decisions about transportation determine much more than where roads or bridges or tunnels or rail lines will be built. They determine the connections and barriers that people will encounter in their daily lives - and thus how hard or easy it will be for people to get where they need and want to go." - Elijah Cummings
YOU SAID IT: Garry challenged the pro-Palestinian protesters to remove their masks and look us all in the eye.
"The demonstrations have been really upsetting," writes Susan. "People who live here should not carry out such horrible actions against their fellow Australians. When the Balkans were fighting, supporters of their former countries demonstrated their support but they respected their opponents' right to rally. That is not happening now, which is a great sadness."
Cass writes: "I'm happy for anyone to protest, masked or otherwise. I suspect, however, many of the pro-Palestine protesters are happy to obscure themselves in this way in order to disguise the fact that they are either pro-Hamas agitators or outright anti-Semitic types. As for the many tag-alongs, who have been duped into protesting on behalf of a 'country' where no dissent is tolerated, where learning is restricted, where women are second-class and where the actions of Hamas have led to mayhem and carnage, they are those to whom Lenin referred as 'useful idiots'."
"The majority in protests and rallies proudly show their faces, like me," writes Kim. "Then you have those with legitimate fears for themselves and family. Why are you so keen to identify protesters?"
Attila writes: "I marched against the Vietnam war. I was of conscription age, my friends were being called up and I was scared. That was a conflict which Australians were forced to take part and most of us didn't really know what it was all about. We marched without any disguise against the government and many were arrested for their beliefs. We didn't beat up anyone to my knowledge but were certainly set upon by the authorities and in some cases incarcerated. What I see today is a mob with mob mentality demonstrating against military action by two opponents seeking the moral high ground."
"Sadly, protests can attract those just looking to vent their personal anger, attack others and be violent," writes Jennifer. "The masks make them feel safe, enabling avoidance of the consequences of their actions. Cowards. Anyone wearing a non-medical mask needs to be evicted from the protest by genuine protesters or by police."
Sue writes: "I suspect that some of what we are seeing in the protests is a rite of passage, the end of being a teenager before being forced to become an adult. Teenagers still know everything and are 'right'. Soon they will come to see that a solution to his, or any crisis, is not a simple issue and that there are rights, and wrongs, on both sides. But I'm with you, Garry. If you are going to say something, and want others to believe you, or at least respect your opinion, then identify yourself. Tell us who you are, because that at least gives your opinion some validity."