'Fool’s Wall' Comes Tumbling Down at Kudanshita

[yanpa]

Tokyo Subway ‘Fool’s Wall’ Comes Tumbling Down

A maddening wall that has long irritated Tokyo commuters by separating passengers on the same platform has finally been torn down.

he barrier, described by Tokyo Gov. Naoki Inose as a “fool’s wall,” was a symbol of petty line-drawing between the capital’s two rival subway systems–Tokyo Metro Co., owned jointly by the national government and the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, and Toei Subway, owned solely by the metro government.

Demolishing the wall may be more than just a matter of passenger convenience–it could herald the way toward a more efficient, unified system.

From Saturday, travelers using Kudanshita station near the Imperial Palace in the city center won’t have to waste minutes tramping up flights of stairs, passing through two ticket barriers, then descending more steps just to end up within a meter or two of where they started.

While the need to scrap the wall may have been obvious, it could be said the need to unify the city’s baffling subway system is just as obvious.

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[Coligny]

Too busy buying the Senkaku to fix the local subway... business as usual...

[gaijinpunch]

I think I've only ever exited Kudanshita station once in my tenure, and never transferred there.

[Screwed-down Hairdo]

Shite...I used this station regularly for years and never noticed. My complete lack of a sense of direction is -- together with multiple psychoses, neuroses, sexual deviancy, arrested development and inability to act or communicate like a mature adult -- another reason why I sometimes feel as though I was born to be in this cuntry.