The author taking a new challenge of playing Australian Rules Football

Hi guys,

I hope you had a good Christmas and 2018 is brilliant for you.

Officially, I am a player for the Osaka Dingoes AFL (Australian Rules Football) club as well as doing off field duties in writing, translating and public relations officer.

I am excited to take new challenges in playing new sport and the PB tasks, and to extend my writing skills for the club.

Public announcement has been made on the Footy Almanac website where I am contributing sports stories, mainly AFL ones.

All the best.

Japanese media should care about other part of the world

My blog today starts with my sympathy to victims of the car clash incident on Flinders Street in Melbourne.

It is a terrible incident and should have never happened. Why innocent eighteen people were injured? My anger is towards the offender. If an immigrant acts like it, other hardworking and faith people who want to move to the country like me will lose an opportunity to the better life there.

On Friday morning, I was curious to know if Japanese media reported the news or not. I found the article and then another anger hit me.

Japanese TV reports the incident with no Japanese was victimised. Does it really matter?

No. The media should express sympathy to victims no matter whose nationality is / are.

Since the devestating earth quake in 2011, I have been turning back on the Japanese media because I am unhappy with not caring the rest of the world.

Days ago, Christchurch in New Zealand was hit another terrible earth quake. 185 people were killed with the natural disease. I feel extremely sad for victims.

Try garden city held a memorial and then Prime Minister John Key and Princes William made speeches. As the Japanese earth quake had been occurred, japanese media edited their speeches into only while they expressed sympathy to Japan.

What they have done was not to empathise victims of the Christchurch earth quake and was very disrespectful to New Zealand. Worsening, they only anchored number of Japanse victims of the Christchurch one.

As a person who has lived in New Zealand for four years and loves Christchurch, my anger towards Japanese media came up. How self centred they are!

And such attitudes apply to sports reports. For example, Japanese baseball and soccer players play overseas. The media only report how Japanese players perform and scores. Where are their teammates?

Japanse media has no respect towards other players and are rude to their teams. They should compliment their teammates and appreciate their teams to pick them.

I strongly want Japanese media to care other parts of the world. Reasonable and balanced reports are essential in journalism as I have learned on the online course provided in the English language.

Focusing on a big story too much with unnecessary commentating is the reason I do not watch any Japanese news programme any more. It's nonsense and so terrible.

And they constantly broadcast rubbish variety shows in prime times. Then reading a book is much better and I learn a lot from inspiring books.

Is cycling an expensive activity?

Listening to ABC radio Melbourne in the morning today, they were talking about Australian Federal politics, but I had no idea what was the news on discussion. So I have visited some news websites. But no successful.

However I found an interesting article in Melbourne's newspaper the Age's website.

Riding a bike to work was what the newspaper presents. Even they urge us that cycling to work is an activity for rich people.

More than 100,000 people ride a bike to work in Australia, 8.8 per cent increasing between 2011 and 2016.

Melbourne is the capital of cycling to work and most riders live in four to eight kilometres from the CBD. Suburbs such as North Fitzroy, Brunswick East have been built rich houses that people who earn more than median income resident, and are in the category of the riding to work.

Riding a bike can be another version of playing golf, the newspaper says.

However people whose places are not well served by public transport are likely to ride a bike to work as well. Although they tend to leave a bike at the nearest train station.

After reading the article, my thoughts came up with the prices of bikes could make such a trend (riding a bike to work is mainly for rich people). Good road bikes and mountain bikes could cost AUD 1,000 or more. 

Such bikes are expensive here in Japan as well, but we can buy cheap city ride bikes and some bike retailers in the national chain as well as home tool retailers offer cheaper their private branded mountain bikes that I have bought a few times. 

Then bikes are cheap and easy transport for us.

When I was in Melbourne in October, I saw some cyclists, but not as many as here, I reckon. High prices and not many bike parking could be the reasons.

However the Melbourne newspaper makes a good point that people ride a bike more as a healthy and environmental option. And some people choose to ride a bike to avoid overcrowded public transport.

It's a good move and applies to me. I am not riding a bike to work normally, but I do when I have to work in other premises rather than the usual one. Reasons are to get fit and to avoid overcrowded public transport (and too much and annoying announcements).

I would ride a bike to work for ten kilometres each way. Riding a bike is a good exercise and should not be just for rich people.

Christmas - Meanings and Celebrations with question marks

Here in Japan, Christmas is not a public holiday that is opposed to the Western world. And how we celebrate is totally different to the Western countries. Only families with young children have home parties and couples have a Christmas meals and spend a night at a hotel on Christmas Eve - see more details on my old Footy Almanac post here.

But Christmas songs are played at many places and decorations are done at shopping malls and on sreets, even in front of houses.

My question mark comes - why so many Christmas stuffs are around here, even Japanese people celebrate not in the way how Westerners do (spend the day with family)?

I tried to find an answer today but the attempt was unsuccessful. Some online articles in Japanese language about the Christmas history were found, but no reason why *they spend in such ways was indicated.
* I used they instead we because my thoughts and values are closer to western ones ratther than Japanese ones.

Christmas celebration started again in the Meiji era (1867-1911). And it got bigger in the post WW II.

However it was much commercialised. KFC Japan promoted their deep fried chicken wings for dinners on Christmas Eve. Sponged cakes were on sale as their bakeries and pastries' promotions. Exchanging Christmas presents became the trend influenced by retailers.

It's really sad Japanese people ignored the true meaning of Christmas and created sentiments for singleton including me. I admit I am not a fan of Japanese Christmas. I much prefer western Christmas and am sad that I will be in Kyoto on 25 December. I wish I could be in Melbourne.

Such an important occasion should have been adopted here in Japan with respecting Christians and the meanings, I think.

On further research, I found the Christmas was the time to think about others including those we have never met.

I wish you all the best and Merry Christmas to you, even it's early to say. And thanks for reading my blogs this year here, on the Footy Almanac and on the old Kyo Sensational Blog.

Trams - Part Two: Suggestion rebuilding tram network in Kyoto

In the previous post, I wrote about how Melbourne keeps its tram network with history and circumstances.

Here, I would like to express my suggestion needing to rebuild tram network in Kyoto.

Previously my opinion was introducing double decker buses on busy city bus routes. However what happened on Bourke Street in Melbourne in the 1940s and 50s doesn't support my previous idea and changed into having trams back.

Traffic chaos in the busy tourist seasons are terrible. I have seen buses travelling so slow on Higashioji Street, east of the CBD. As many tourist attractions on the eastern and northern suburbs are not covered by rail transports, exploring Kyoto by public transport is frustrating and a nightmare, as inbound tourists save and spend a lot of money to come over to Japan.

In busy seasons, Kyoto City Council sends extra buses on busy routes, but the queues are long in many places. It's bad for the environment as well as creating more congestions. Capacity of buses are low, especially on low floor buses. These mobility friendly vehicles have dead space around wheels. Designline in New Zealand put chairs whose backs are facing towards the direction buses are travelling, but none of Japanese makes installs such seats. Worsely recent Isuzu Erga buses have standard models of short bodies, and such buses are purchased as majority. Melbourne's Yarra Trams have great E Class fleet of three section arculated vehicles. I was amazed and impressed with high capacity of the tram fleet when I boarded on a few times there.

Then Kyoto City council's poor operations on buses don't take any merit of operating diesel powered buses. They don't overtake buses at bus stops, even when buses on same routes stop at the same stop. Such poor operating itself causes delays and many bus drivers run at the red lights. I felt unsafe and uncomfortable travelling on the city buses many times. For the latter issue, trams will have priority tram traffic lights and road codes will be obeyed and trams are safer than buses.

In 1894, the first tram tracks in Kyoto was opened operated by a private operator. It was the first electrified rail in the nation.

Kyoto City Council started operating their tram services in 1912. Due to financial circumstnces, all tram tracks run and operated by Kyoto Electrified Rail have been purchased by the state operator. Tram tracks were extended until 1958.

But like in majority of cities in the globe, motorisation hit Kyoto in the late 1950s and 60s. In Japan, promoting motorisation and buildng underground train network were required to become big cities (cities populated one million or more have more authorisations to run the city). Trams have been labelled negatively as "out of date in transport systems".

Allowing private motor vehicles in roads shared with tram tracks caused a lot of traffic congestions. Once again the local authority banned private vehicles in some tram tracks but it was to late. Trams were running late and services became unreliable. Then the time when the next tram was coming was unpredictable. Frustrated passengers shifted trips to other tansport modes. Trams became less patronised.

In 1969, the New Transport Plan Bill was passed at the City Council Chamber. Closure of all tram lines except the outer city loop line.

The financial circumstances had been tough and the City Council Transport had a lot of losses. Closure of tram network was required to rebuild the state transport organisation with financial supports from the central Government.

The against petition signed by 270,000 people didn't stop undergoing the transport's financial rebuilding programme.

In 1978, all city council operated tram tracks were closed. Media reported big stories of the tram tracks closure in the city where the first electrified tram lines were opened.

Now it's the twenty-first century and the time to consider the environment. It's time to rebuild tram network in Kyoto.

My points of views are found similarly in LRT will save Kyoto (Tsumugi Book Publication, 2004). And some groups have been established lobbing the city council.

But local businesses were against and the city council didn't take any advice. The experiment conducted in the northern suburb seemed not successful.

The book has positive views on installing the LRT system. Introducing the ride and park encouraging locals and tourists to shift travelling on public transport is good and what I had thought. Transit Malls where basically only trams and pedestrians can access are great. Formally part of Wellington's Cuba Mall was a pedestrian area and I really loved it. Kyoto's Shijo Street in the CBD should have such system banning all private cars except loading tracks early in the morning. Unfortunately allowing private cars in the recently narrowed Shijo Street is a bad call (even controversial I think) and the city council didn't take a lesson from the past when they permitted private vehicles to share tram tracks.

I admit I won't expect the silly city council to take my suggestion but do hope trams are back on Kyoto streets in the near future.

Trams on the run

The Class 1800 Tram (now used as the Okazaki Park concierge information and bus waiting room buildng)
* It was originally built as the Class 800 in 1951 and then refurbished in 1969 for one-man operation.

Trams - Part one: How Melbourne's trams are survived

While my visit to Melbourne, I saw many trams in the city as well as trains, but not buses other than the Sky Bus (the airport transport services) or double decker buses for tourists.

Once I had come back to Kyoto (very sadly!!), I started wondering trams should be back on service in Kyoto, and being curious to know why Melbourne keep tram services while many cities in the world have replaced trams with buses.

I was able to research online, but distrusting Wikipedia, I have decided to contact Yarra Trams, the operator of Melbourne's tram network, so visited their website. Under their contact us section, I found Melbourne had a tram museum at the former its Hawthorn depot, so I emailed the museum for the sources for this blog.

Melbourne Tram Museum's content manager Russell Jones responded with links to his articles.

According to his article No stairway to heaven: the failure of double decker buses in Melbourne, The Melbourne & Metroplitan Tramways Board (M&MTB) had a programme converting cable tram lines to electrical traction and it resumed in 1935 after the recovery from the Great Depression.

Afterwards, two of three Elizabeth Street routes (Farmington Road and Sydney Road) were converted into the electrical tram lines, and another was replaced with a single decker bus service due to low patronase levels. Other tram lines with low patronised were also replaced by single decker buses.

The question came up when the M&MTB was resolving the conversion of three Bourke Street routes. The M&MTB held up the project due to the financial loss on the Collingwood cable tram lines. Other two routes of Northcote and North Fitzroy had been heavily patronised.

Hector Hercules Bell, the Chairman of the M&MTB visited North America and Europe in 1938 to examine urban tansport systems. Bell was so impressed with their diesel bus technology handling with heavy patronising. His determination of converting the cable tram lines on Bourke Street became replacing with buses.

Prevailing upon the Board on his decision, a twelve-month trial was set to rationalise the bus services. If the bus replacement was unsuccessful, the original plan to convert into the electrical tram lines would remain and bus fleets would be transferred to other existing services.

70 buses - 25 single decker and 45 double decker vehicles entered on services. As several manufactures were awarded with the contract, the deivery of all 70 buses were not made within their target of March 1940.

Starting the bus services on 26 October 1940, the operation was clearly seen as a failure because of number of issues.

• Buses required the same size of two crewmen, driver and conductor as trams, but had less capacity comparing 150 on trams to 90 on buses. Operating bus services cost higher than trams and reduced the rate of return.
• Double decker buses did not suit with Melbourne as many passenger had short trips and were relectant to ascend and descend the staircase. And difficulty on collecting fares on crowed buses reduced the fare income.
• Their Leyland fleet had bad features including open rear platform that created kerbside dwell, lacklustre accelerator that was not suited with the hill on Bourke Street, small size that was unable to handle with peak hour passengers, top deck colliding shop roofs and electrical poles.
• Buses had shorter life spans - 14 years comparing 30 years of W Class trams.

Conversion to electrical trams was the priority in the post WW II, but the lack of support from the State Governmet delayed the project. The Northcote route was completed on 26 June 1955, while the East Brunswick route was not finished until 6 April 1956.

Then the financial circumstances in the 1950s and 60s saved Melbourne's team networks thanks to Sir Robert Risson, while other cities in the world abandoned tram services.

Having built the tram network in Brisbane and served in military, Sir Robert was appointed as the Chairman of M&MTB in 1949.

Facing the staff shortages and cost issues, the M&MTB constructed hostels for immigrants to join the tram works. Even the failure of bus services in Bourke Street, the organisation have been criticised with anti-bus.

Sir Robert's own mark at the M&MTB was 'yes is yes' and 'no is no' management with the combinatio of integrity that was admired by the tramways staff.

In 1955, he spoke of the fact backing the union's insistence that 41-seat buses require two-man operations while a tram had 48-seats with two-man opertion required. With this ecomomy view, buses were unfavoured.

His announcement was misquoted in the Melbourne's press as the M&MTB was intended to build a bus workshop in Dudley Flats. Their readers were impressed that trams were going and buses were taking over.

But in the mid 1950s, substantial operating economies was essential to keep the organisation afloat. Buses operating on reduced headways replaced all-night tram services from February 1957, as well as some Sunday tram services were replaced by buses from 1959.

The order of the W7 type tramcars was reduced from 70 to 40 and the last rollingstock entered into the service in 1956. M&MTB had purchased tramcars for 17 years until then.

Their building fleets in the 1960s were only 100 AEC buses with 31-seats. Meanwhie low patronising Point Ormond and Footscray local lines were replaced by buses in early 1960s. Coburg and Hawthorn tram depots and Port Melbourne bus depot were closed due to the financial structures.

Thanks to these histories, Melbourne operates the world's largest tram network currently with Yarra Trams established in 1999 under Kennett Government's privatisation.

Yarra Trams operate 24 routes and the City Circuit tourist service with 250-kilometre double tracks and more than 1700 stops across the network.

Number of their weekly services is about 31,500 and annual patronage of 2015-16 is more than 203 million boardings.

About 450 trams are owned by Yarra Trams with the traditional W Class serving in the City Circuit built in 1956 to the modern E Class, three section articulated and low floored vehicles. During the peak time, around 410 trams are on services.

It's impressive how Melbourne keep trams on services. Then later, I am presenting my suggestion to reintroduce trams in Kyoto.

My prediction of the future media

I was so shocked when I heard SEN, the Melbourne sports radio station sacked the Run Home hosts David Schwartz (the Ox) and Mark Allen (Marko). The radio programme and its hosts were popular. Many listeners are angry and vowed to boycott the radio station.

My thoughts on this issue can be found here.

Earlier in the year, journalists have taken by voluntary leaves from The Age newspaper of Melbourne. Those had contributed articles with great qualities. It seems (I reckon) that the newspaper wants quick and instant headlines to win the competition getting more attention and where the internet including social network platforms was the rival.

Radio seems to seek the same trends as newspapers? Maybe...

The internet has changed and is changing the world, both positively and negatively.

Traditional media of TV, radio and newspaper are facing the big wall and its era seems to end, or has ended.

Here is my prediction of the structures of the future media.

TV - Audiences will be able to watch their programmes on the internet. News, sports and events will remain to be broadcasted live. Other programmes will be uploaded on the channel (website) once to a couple times a day so that audience can watch their favourite show(s) at any time. Also live programmes can be replayed. So no more DVD is needed to record your favourite programmes. Commercials will be played automatically and appropriate ones are picked automatically with their IT programme.

Radio - We have already been able to tune in radio shows online. Also radio stations have already provided podcasts. This trend will be continued and then many individuals will start offering podcast based radio shows. Traditional radio stations will compete these podcasts, but the new podcast radio stations need to have high standards of shows or just they air their shows as their interests. However independent podcast based radio can be popular as more like ordinary people's voice.

Newspapers - Many of them started charging readers for their stories, but other news sources provide free news articles online, for example, TV stations have website and they write articles as well as creating videos for the TV. TV stations and newspaper might merge or have connections collaborate to survive. Subscription is essential to read news articles to pay salaries for journalists, cameramen and etc.

I just want more accurate news and don't want inaccurate instant news...