The Secret to Tokyo's Rail Success

Twice during my recent trip to Tokyo, once at Shibuya and again in a suburb to the west of the city, I exited a subway platform only to find myself swaddled in a massive department store. This was the Tokyu store. In Shibuya, at least, it felt every bit as gigantic as Macy's gigantic flagship store on New York's 34th Street. It had at least 10 stories to its name and a curious arrangement of chairs outside the elevator bank, which people sat in so attentively, you'd think that's exactly what they'd awakened to do.

In other words the railway itself was just a sideline attraction. This is no accident. As John Calimente reminds us in the latest issue of the Journal of Transport and Land Use [PDF], a major reason Tokyo's private rail lines are so successful is that they've diversified the business beyond transportation into real estate holdings and retail outlets. At the end of the day this means both profitability for the company and better transportation for city residents. Calimente writes: