Opening Date Set For New Tokyo Subway Line

[Greji]

What are they going to be updating that needs an RSS feed?

"Jumper on platform 3" ?

Why not? "Too late! Clean-up on aisle 3!"

[Taro Toporific]

[GomiGirl]

Fabulous isn't it!!

[james]

Hey, the new Tokyo Metro put in an elevator just for me in front some bar.

spammer.

[omae mona]

Today's RSS update: Construction Photos!!. So far they are all from Higashi-Shinjuku station and Shinjuku-sanchome station.

And they are ALL boring. But timely!

[sublight]

What do most people say when they hear how much money was spent on this?

[GomiGirl]

What encoding does that site use? I am seeing way too much mojebake on that death-by-flash site they have.

[Taro Toporific]

What do most people say when they hear how much money was spent on this?

[IkemenTommy]

Classic

[Greji]

Classic

No it ain't. He was trying to spell "GoGo".....

[ttjereth]

[GomiGirl]

Cropped to hide my secret browser tabs...

Also this site has the nasty problem of auto resizing my browser window. I hate that!!

[ttjereth]

Cropped to hide my secret browser tabs...

Also this site has the nasty problem of auto resizing my browser window. I hate that!!

What browser are you using (looks like Firefox)? I know safari is buggy and has a lot of encoding/character display problems.
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=safari+encoding+problem&btnG=Google+Search

Also, do you have any auto-detect/auto select options turned on? If so they might override the UTF-8 setting because they think something else is more appropriate. I have no problems with UTF-8 here on Firefox, Opera and IE, all on windows. If it's firefox trying making sure that Character Encoding->Auto Detect is set to (Off) and then set UTF-8.

For resizing windows, depends on what browser you are using, but Firefox and Opera both allow you to disable the javascript ability to resize and move windows without disabling all javascript. Not sure about Safari, for IE there are hacky workarounds.

For Firefox: Tools->options->content->Enable Javascript->advanced

[Charles]

Also this site has the nasty problem of auto resizing my browser window. I hate that!!

That should have been your clue. Sites that resize the browser window like that usually have one thing in common: Flash.
Flash is notorious for mojibake on non-Japanese systems. And there's nothing you can do about it, it will not obey encodings set in the browser, it is a world unto itself, it cares not for compatibility.
Flash is the most evil thing to ever hit the web. It should be killed.

[ttjereth]

That should have been your clue. Sites that resize the browser window like that usually have one thing in common: Flash.
Flash is notorious for mojibake on non-Japanese systems. And there's nothing you can do about it, it will not obey encodings set in the browser, it is a world unto itself, it cares not for compatibility.
Flash is the most evil thing to ever hit the web. It should be killed.

?? Flash has nothing to do with the text on a website.

[Charles]

?? Flash has nothing to do with the text on a website.

In this case, it does. The mojibake text is presented within a Flash applet. All other text on the page would render correctly, but the browser encoding detection does not apply to Flash objects. This bug has existed as long as Japanese Flash content has existed.

[GomiGirl]

Well Charles you are kinda right.. the resizing of the browser window is not flash - it can be done when you set up the page. Pages that are not flash can do this too. But it is common with flash sites too.

[ttjereth]

In this case, it does. The mojibake text is presented within a Flash applet. All other text on the page would render correctly, but the browser encoding detection does not apply to Flash objects. This bug has existed as long as Japanese Flash content has existed.

Screen shot from Windows XP Home installed in English (there aren't really any specific language versions of windows anymore, it all depends on what you select when installing) on Firefox:



Is this a Mac specific problem? I don't have a Mac at home, but I can view it with no problem on the Windows XP Home "English version" above, Windows XP Pro switched to English, Windows XP Pro switched to Japanese, and XP Home "Japanese version" as well as Vista in both English and Japanese.

I also don't get any window resizing, other than the embedded layer windows which are just overlayed on top of the regular window, but even those aren't resizing, they start off small.

The only method I know of for resizing windows using flash is to use flash to execute Javascript, so turning off the ability of Javascript to resize windows still prevents Flash from doing so.

[Charles]

Is this a Mac specific problem?

Apparently it is. Adobe is notorious for not optimizing their Mac Flash player, it is an extreme CPU hog and has more than a few bugs like this one. I've tried to fix the problem by installing a Japanese edition of the Flash player but it has not remedied the problem.

And yeah, GG, the window resize-to-max isn't actually a Flash function but it seems to be primarily used by Flash developers. I don't recall seeing any windows that go fullscreen that were not Flash pages. It's just another stupid idea that seems like a good one to Flash devs (like Flash itself).

[Mulboyne]

I think the logo here needs a strategic "h" in front of the exclamation mark.

[Mulboyne]

Excitement is building as the opening date draws near. Tokyo Metro has begun releasing images of the new station platforms. That's Shinjuku San-chome above.

[Mulboyne]

Inside the new carriages

[IkemenTommy]

Alright, so who is camping out in line tonight to be the first to ride this thing?

[Iraira]

With the opening of the new F! Line just hours away, the dorks are camping out to be the first to ride the new train line. Around 9pm tonight, saw two of them reclining against the shuttered enterance to San Chome station. Figured that it was too early for them to be passing out from binging, and hadda ask if my worst fears were true...yes, they are girlfriendless and want to be the first to ride the train. Correlation or mere association? For some people Friday the 13th is every day.

I actually am more interested not in who will be the first to ride the new F! Line, but who will be the first drunk to puke on, on, around it.

[ttjereth]

Inside the new carriages

They look very 1970's don't they.

[Mulboyne]

Queues at Shibuya:

[Taro Toporific]

I think the logo here needs a strategic "h" in front of the exclamation mark.

Services on new Fukutoshin Subway Line disrupted for fourth-straight day
Mainichi - June 17, 2008
Services on the newly opened Fukutoshin (Subcenter) Subway Line in downtown Tokyo have been disrupted for four consecutive days since its inauguration on Saturday due to technical problems and errors...more...

[omae mona]

Services on new Fukutoshin Subway Line disrupted for fourth-straight day
Mainichi - June 17, 2008
Services on the newly opened Fukutoshin (Subcenter) Subway Line in downtown Tokyo have been disrupted for four consecutive days since its inauguration on Saturday due to technical problems and errors...more...

...much to the delight of the customers, 99.9% of whom were there only to take pictures and jot notes in their diaries. While apologizing for all the trouble, officials eventually found one passenger who claimed not to be an otaku and was actually trying to go somewhere. Her comment was "this is the Hanzomon line platform, right?"

[GomiGirl]

There is a station just down the roadd from my office. I was thinking of taking a ride today just for fun.

[Mulboyne]

Yomiuri: Rough start for Fukutoshin Line / Ambiguous info confuses commuters; drivers unfamiliar with runs
With a mazelike pattern of rail lines, ambiguous information displays and drivers unfamiliar with their runs, Tokyo's newest subway line, the Fukutoshin Line, has got off to a bumpy start. Since its first passenger trains set off through the capital on June 14 to much fanfare, platforms have regularly been overwhelmed with confused commuters milling around, relying on announcements to point them in the right direction. The rush hour can be trying at the best of times, but many commuters have been less than impressed with the teething problems of the Tokyo Metro Co.-run line between Wako-shi Station in Saitama Prefecture and Shibuya Station.

[floatr][/floatr]Much of the frustration has been directed at Kotakemukaihara Station in Nerima Ward, Tokyo, which has two platforms for trains heading into central Tokyo. Trains departing from Platform 1, in principle, come in on the Tobu Tojo Line, and those leaving from Platform 2 arrive on the Seibu Ikebukuro Line. After leaving the station, trains switch over to either the Fukutoshin or Yurakucho lines. It gets even more complicated if trains are delayed--trains could run in six different patterns. During the morning rush on the platforms for trains heading to central Tokyo, scheduled departure times have disappeared from the destination displays. Tokyo Metro puts this down to disruptions to the timetable, but deleting these times from the displays, if anything, leaves commuters only more confused. Many commuters are, first of all, at a loss over whether trains will depart from Platform 1 or Platform 2. This means that when station employees make an announcement about which platform to use, a mass of commuters swarms toward that platform. Adding to the chaos is the fact that the new Fukutoshin Line carriages also can be used on the Yurakucho Line. "I saw the keynote brown color of the new carriages, so I got on a train convinced it was a Fukutoshin Line train, but it turned out to be a Yurakucho Line train," a 35-year-old commuter complained.

[floatl][/floatl]Displays indicating destinations also have earned rebukes. While "Shibuya" on the Fukutoshin Line and "Shin-Kiba" on the Yurakucho Line are easily differentiated when written in Japanese, some commuters have grumbled that the same destinations are easy to mistake when displayed in English. The new line provides the long-awaited direct link between Saitama Prefecture and Shibuya. "I thought it'd be convenient, so I switched to the Fukutoshin Line from a JR line," complained a 48-year-old man from Asaka, Saitama Prefecture. "If these problems continue, I'll revert to the JR line. There should be clearer displays and better guidance." Tokyo Metro was unable to adjust its operations to align with the new Fukutoshin Line because the Yurakucho Line ran through Kotakemukaihara Station before services began on the new line, a spokesman said. Drivers' unfamiliarity with the line and instructions that confuse drivers over whether services are local or express also added to the problems. "We have no leg to stand on when people accusing us of not being properly prepared," a spokesman for the subway company said. "We'll look into the problems and tackle them as quickly as we can." There are signs Tokyo Metro has taken onboard some of the criticism: Information displays had been improved by Thursday, and the number of personnel offering assistance on the platforms had been increased.