Welcome Aboard
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With the opening of Haneda airport’s new international terminal, several taxi associations are providing taxis with point-and-speak foreign language sheets that passengers and drivers can use to communicate with each other in English, Korean and Chinese. The taxis can be identified by Welcome Aboard stickers on the window. Questions include “Where would you like to go?” “This is about how much it will cost to get there,” “A toll road will cost you more,” and so on.
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18 Comments
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0
Shumatsu_Samurai
Not a bad idea, given that a lot of foreign tourists may speak some English but probably no Japanese.
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chuckers
My concern with "where would like to go?" is how you explain that? I doubt many people fresh of the plane would be able to find their destination on a map and I have heard some really horrid manglings of building/hotel names. Hopefully the passenger would have the address.
Still, I appreciate the effort.
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Sarge
Whatever you do, don't go much farther than 2 kilometers in a taxi or it'll cost you dearly.
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smartacus
What happens if the passenger wants to ask the driver something that isn't written in the language sheet?
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Gurukun
They should make all the stickers in each language. If I knew nothing of Japan and saw this taxi, I would think the following:
"HIS-this is a Taxi for men only"
"The Basic fee is 6,000 yen to anywhere"
"Something is "OK"
"It is 710 yen for 2 of something."
I would have proabably found a taxi with less stickers on it.
0
porter
This is good to have Korean and Chinese in addition to English. Now the foreign language education system in Japan should reflect this.
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Foxie
Good beginning. Now it is about time to make all signs and announcements in English, Chinese and Korean just like they do already in Korea.
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kyushujoe
Good idea, but why call it "Point and Speak"? Surely the whole idea is that you can point instead of speaking.
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DentShop
I have had some drivers with surprisingly good English ability. How did the best speakers of English end up driving cabs and the most useless end up making political and business decisions? Another question - what is Japan going to do in 5 years when all of its taxi drivers retire?
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ratpack
Taxi driver: Eh to...where would you like to go?
Tourist: G'day mate. jus' take us to tha intanational hotel.
Taxi driver:(looking puzzled)Eh to....doko....where.....please once more. Tourist: (loudly and quickly) Tha intanational hotel. Taxi driver: Ah...soka....kokusai desu ne?
Tourist: Hey scumbag whadidja just call mi eye?
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the_harper
Frankly I think anyone travelling in Japan should have a printout of the hotel name and address in Japanese.
Seriously - is the basic fare of that taxi 6,000 yen? I've never used a taxi in Japan, not when there's trains and buses to get you to pretty much anywhere.
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kujiranikusuki
@Sarge HUH???? the first 2km are the most expensive. That is the flat rate for getting in the cab. I think cabs in Japan are on par with cabs in the USA. I have taken a cab in Japan maybe 5 or 6 times. sure it cost me about 1000 to 2000 yen but I was either REALLY lost, super late, or just too tired to care.
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cactusJack
I think that sticker could have been designed a lot better. Should list Chinese and Korean on there too.
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northlondon
Some other useful sentences for the driver:-
'I'm a full-time salaried Tokyo taxi driver. Please teach me how to get to Yoyogi from Akasaka.'
'You from America ? You English ?'
'Unless you direct me otherwise, I'll take you straight to Roppongi.'
0
Mocheake
Criticisms aside, this is a great start. Anything done to try and improve the service and the understanding between drivers and passengers has to be applauded. The harper, I agree with your first statement. Shouldn't be that hard to do, I would imagine.
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northlondon
I've never used a train or a bus in Japan, not when there's cheap taxis to get you anywhere.
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smithinjapan
Now if they just lowered the COST of taking a cab it would be even MORE attractive. Seriously... you get a cab from the airport and your automatically paying at least the cost of one night at your hotel to get to your hotel, if not more.
Anyway, it's a step up. There will definitely be problems, still, but at least it's a start.
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trulymadlyfukai
Great, Edo era solutions JUSt being launched in Japan in 2010.
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