In 2011, a teacher on our email list, Martin Swist, wrote from Japan to say, “I enjoyed reading your comments about trains. We live in Tokyo, Japan, and Fairfield, Conn. (Also, years ago, in the heavenly Berkshires, in Shelburne Falls, Mass.) I am embarrassed whenever I ride Metro North to and from Grand Central Terminal and see a Japanese person on the train; I know what that person is accustomed to.”

I was in Tokyo last week and won’t bore you with another account of how superior Japanese trains are but I thought you might enjoy hearing about – and seeing – a couple of small things that make travel in Japan a bit easier and more pleasant. The first is something I noticed in a taxi on the way to the train station: chargers for mobile devices. See photo above left. The second was on the train: luggage racks with locks. The passenger sets the combination and can then settle in for a nap. I would love to have these on our Berkshires to New York City trains. Airports and hotels are adding charging stations and I’m waiting to see some alternative-energy options for mobile devices – solar panels on the carriage roofs?