4 ms·

Wow, thanks for the background on this. I lived in Japan previously and I had always assumed that there was no Shinkansen to Narita due to airline lobbying. M

by mattm 6y ago

Wow, thanks for the background on this. I lived in Japan previously and I had always assumed that there was no Shinkansen to Narita due to airline lobbying. Most international flights go through Tokyo. If you live in Nagoya or Osaka and a direct Shinkansen connection was available to Narita for your international flight, I think a lot of people would choose to take the Shinkansen to/from the airport rather than the domestic flight.

seanmcdirmid 6y ago
Osaka has plenty of international flights. I don’t think they are served by a shinkansen either, though definitely by a lot more trains than Narita.
- bobthepanda 6y ago
  Part of the lessons learned by Japan at Narita was that a flat land parcel big enough for an airport is extremely difficult to assemble, extremely unpopular to assemble, and will probably be located way too far out to be convenient. After all, Haneda is still the busier airport today. So now new airports tend to get built as artificial islands, since you are probably not trampling on anyone’s centuries-long family farm.
  - throwaheyy 6y ago
    There’s still a taxiway at Narita which has a kink in the middle of it that blocks use of the adjacent runway when any plane is travelling on it. The kink is there because of a parcel of private land that the owner refuses to sell. Link: https://goo.gl/maps/G83NUkot4i7JwwWBA https://goo.gl/maps/G83NUkot4i7JwwWBA
    - m4rtink 6y ago
      Well, there is that whole farm enveloped by the airport: https://www.google.com/maps/@35.7828401,140.3896393,403m/data=!3m1!1e3?hl=en-AU https://www.google.com/maps/@35.7828401,140.3896393,403m/dat... BBC article/video: https://www.bbc.com/reel/video/p08kz96l/the-man-living-at-an-international-airport https://www.bbc.com/reel/video/p08kz96l/the-man-living-at-an...
bobthepanda 6y ago
It also didn’t help that by the 90s the JNR was so burdened with Shinkansen debt that the government took on all the debt in a dedicated bad bank and privatized the rest. Now Haneda is taking international flights again so the point is moot. I think there is enough demand for both to exist, but Narita’s current situation is just a touch better than Montreal Mirabel.

by mattm 6y ago

seanmcdirmid 6y ago

Osaka has plenty of international flights. I don’t think they are served by a shinkansen either, though definitely by a lot more trains than Narita.

bobthepanda 6y ago
Part of the lessons learned by Japan at Narita was that a flat land parcel big enough for an airport is extremely difficult to assemble, extremely unpopular to assemble, and will probably be located way too far out to be convenient. After all, Haneda is still the busier airport today. So now new airports tend to get built as artificial islands, since you are probably not trampling on anyone’s centuries-long family farm.
- throwaheyy 6y ago
  There’s still a taxiway at Narita which has a kink in the middle of it that blocks use of the adjacent runway when any plane is travelling on it. The kink is there because of a parcel of private land that the owner refuses to sell. Link: https://goo.gl/maps/G83NUkot4i7JwwWBA https://goo.gl/maps/G83NUkot4i7JwwWBA
  - m4rtink 6y ago
    Well, there is that whole farm enveloped by the airport: https://www.google.com/maps/@35.7828401,140.3896393,403m/data=!3m1!1e3?hl=en-AU https://www.google.com/maps/@35.7828401,140.3896393,403m/dat... BBC article/video: https://www.bbc.com/reel/video/p08kz96l/the-man-living-at-an-international-airport https://www.bbc.com/reel/video/p08kz96l/the-man-living-at-an...

bobthepanda 6y ago

It also didn’t help that by the 90s the JNR was so burdened with Shinkansen debt that the government took on all the debt in a dedicated bad bank and privatized the rest. Now Haneda is taking international flights again so the point is moot. I think there is enough demand for both to exist, but Narita’s current situation is just a touch better than Montreal Mirabel.