Combined: The Amazing Psychology of Japanese Rail Stations (Parts I and II)

01/31/22 • 17 min

Parts I and II of our look at the psychology that goes in to the planning and operation of Japanese rail stations, combined into a single episode.

Support the show

Parts I and II of our look at the psychology that goes in to the planning and operation of Japanese rail stations, combined into a single episode.

Support the show

Previous Episode

The Amazing Psychology of Japan's rail stations (Part I)

It takes more than physical engineering for Japan's rail stations to carry out the smooth transport of some 13 billion passenger trips each year.
Rail station design is a master class in "Nudge Theory" at work, perhaps most notably through the use of strategically placed blue LED light panels along station platforms.
What might look like a bug zapper is actually a clever means of substantially reducing suicide attempts from station platforms.
Join us as we travel to Osaka to speak with the university researcher who first explored the relationship between blue lights and suicide reduction in Japan.

Support the show

Next Episode

The WWII plot to dye Mt. Fuji black

IN THE WANING MONTHS OF World War II, as the likelihood of a land invasion of the Japanese home islands loomed, the United States’ Joint Intelligence Center, Pacific Ocean Areas (JICPOA) instituted a new psychological warfare unit under the command of Colonel Dana Johnston.
That Mt. Fuji would then become a physical target of Allied psy-ops is not surprising. As detailed in a declassified 1945 memo from Col. Johnston to JICPOA’s commanding officer, General Joseph Twitty, the proposed operation would “give Fujiyama with some color other than that seasonably endowed by nature.”
In other words, the plan called for the marshaling of considerable manpower and equipment to dye Mt. Fuji black.

Support the show