Welcome to this week’s Quick Takes! We have info on Street Car Day
celebration, information robot, bus news, hotel news, and Pikachu!
- Street Car Day in June: In Japan, June 10th is “Street Car Day” (the pronunciation of 6 and 10 combined are close to “street car”, thus the date). The traditional started since 1995, and cities in Japan that runs street car lines are organizing events to celebrate (like Tokyo and Nagasaki). If you are in these cities on June 10th, look out for antique street cars running during the celebration.
- The Emperor’s train on display as Kyoto Railway Museum new exhibit: To celebrate the new Emperor’s ascension, Kyoto Railway Museum will hold an exhibition on his highness’s Royal train. It is this train that the royal couple use for their state visits. Items from the waiting room they use will be presented as well. The exhibition will last until July 15th.
- JR East and Deutsche Bahn to test information robots: Turns out JR and Deutsche Bahn are both exploring information counter turn robot. And they are currently testing their robots in Tokyo Station, from now to May 31st, between 10:30 am to 5 pm. The testing ground will be B1 floor of Tokyo Station. The goal for this round of testing is to testing the onboard AI for the JR and Deutsche Bahn robots, using the same information database, as well as human interactions.
- Meitetsu to release booking app for reserved seat tickets in English: Language barrier is one of the main issue in Japan traveling. Thus, it is always good when major businesses put effort in making their services multi-lingual. Meitetsu had announced the implementation of a new online ticketing platform last week. At launch, the website had English interface, plus Japanese. And since the site will store the reserved seat tickets, no paper tickets are needed for the ride. For those of you traveling through Nagoya and Mie Prefecture, this new service will definitely save you a lot of time (and headache with the language).
- Bus news: Willer will release an app for passengers to watch on-bus free VOD movies and variety shows. JR West Bus to start Hokuriku to Shikoku overnight bus service, covering Toyama/Kanazawa/Fukui to Tokuyama/Takamatsu.
- Hotel news: Minimalist hotel in center of Osaka, and hotel chain “the b.” expanding their Kansai presence with new hotel near Shinsaibashi, Osaka.
- Pikachu Outbreak 2019: For those of you who are either Pokemon fans old or new, this event is not to be missed. Pikachu Outbreak had been an annual event since 2017, and this year is no exception. This year’s feature is a record breaking 2000 Pikachu parade! It will take place in Minato Mirai area in Yokohama, between August 6th and 12th.
That’s it for this week. Are you going to the Pikachu event, or you want to ride old street cars? Let us know in the comments! See you all next week!