"The opening up of the railroad first of all had a huge impact on other forms of transportation. In Funabashi, which had been a stopping off point for those making the pilgrimage to Narita-san from Tokyo, the main road from Tokyo was 'alive with horse-drawn carriages and rickshaws engaged in the passenger trade.'------------------
When the railroad between Tokyo and Narita opened, 'The horse-drawn carriages suffered the shock first, then many of the rickshaws and the ryokan failed to avoid the vicissitudes of the age.'
It is reported that by the second year of the Taishō Era (1913) some 39 ryokan, 65 horse carriages, 1350 rickshaws and 63 passenger boats had ceased their operations..."
Source:
Miura Shigekazu, Takabayashi Naoki, Nagatsuma Hiroshi and Yamamura Kazushige, Chibaken no Hyakunen: kenmin hyakunenshi 12 (Tokyo: Yamaka Shuppan, 25 May 1990), p. 146.
Middle school students open up the windows in order
to exchange greetings with strangers during a changeover
On the Kominato Line, Ichihara City, Chiba Prefecture
August 11, 2007
Yes, I might just be thinking about this article...on this, the first day of the 2008 ordinary Diet session, when all kind of promises have been made.
1 comment:
It's a darn shame that the government was not able to protect the ricshaws and horse drawn carriages from the "confusion" and "excessive" competition caused by the railroads at that time.
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