Spot the recession

I was in Japan last week on a study tour with the Railway Study Association. Most of the details will appear on UK Transport but there were a few general things I noticed which aren't really transport related. So, they're going to get a mention here.

We are told that Japan has been in recession or thereabouts for a decade. So, while I was there I thought I'd try to spot the evidence. It wasn't easy. Cars are new, people are well-dressed, there doesn't seem to be much abandoned property, restaurants seem busy enough, there don't seem to be any sales.

I did however spot a shanty town. This one was in Tokyo and there was a similar if smaller one in Nagoya. Even in destitution the Japanese beat us. Quite simply they have a better class of dosser. Take a careful look at the photos and you will spot that in addition to the regulation cardboard box these people also have blue tarpaulins. Pretty sensible really. I also saw plenty of coat hangers presumably so that could hang out their shirts ready for that all important interview. Japanese cardboard cities also don't smell of stale urine. How they do it I don't know because public toilets in Japan seem pretty thin on the ground.

Another feature of the destitution phenomenon is the authorities' attempts to deal with it. I kept on seeing pedestrian overbridges with the bit under the bridge and not on the road sealed off. Presumably to stop the dossers spoiling the view.

The only other evidence I could find for Japan's recession was this: OK, it's an empty carriage floor. But just a minute, the picture was taken at 1721 on a Wednesday evening on a train on the Yamanote Line (Tokyo's Circle Line). Imagine finding that amount of space on the Tube at that time of day. Not bleeding likely.

So, when do they go home? From my limited experience it seemed that the peak was between 2100 and 2200 in the evening. I also understand that many Japanese also work Saturdays. They're not paid for it but they do.