Snake on Train Delays Japanese Bullet Service

Passengers get on a Kodama bullet train, or "shinkansen" service to the city of Nagoya at Tokyo station in central Tokyo on April 17, 2024. (Photo by Richard A. Brooks / AFP)
Passengers get on a Kodama bullet train, or "shinkansen" service to the city of Nagoya at Tokyo station in central Tokyo on April 17, 2024. (Photo by Richard A. Brooks / AFP)
TT
20

Snake on Train Delays Japanese Bullet Service

Passengers get on a Kodama bullet train, or "shinkansen" service to the city of Nagoya at Tokyo station in central Tokyo on April 17, 2024. (Photo by Richard A. Brooks / AFP)
Passengers get on a Kodama bullet train, or "shinkansen" service to the city of Nagoya at Tokyo station in central Tokyo on April 17, 2024. (Photo by Richard A. Brooks / AFP)

Even small delays in Japan's much-vaunted bullet trains are rare, and more unusual still are snakes on board holding up the speedy "shinkansen" services.

On Tuesday evening, a passenger alerted security to a 40-centimeter serpent lurking on a train between Nagoya and Tokyo, resulting in a 17-minute hold-up.

It was unclear whether the cold-blooded commuter was venomous or how it ended up on the train, and there was no injury or panic among passengers, a spokesman for Central Japan Railway Company told Agence France Presse.

Shinkansen customers can bring small dogs, cats and other animals, including pigeons on board -- but not snakes.

"It's difficult to imagine wild snakes somehow climbing onto the train at one of the stations. We have rules against bringing snakes into the shinkansen," the spokesman told AFP.

"But we don't check passengers' baggage," he said.

The train was originally scheduled to go on to Osaka, but the company decided to use a different train for the trip, causing a delay of about 17 minutes, he said.

Patrols by uniformed security guards onboard bullet trains were scaled up after a fatal stabbing in 2018 on a shinkansen that shocked normally ultra-safe Japan.

Additional security was added for the Summer Olympics in 2021 and Group of Seven meetings last year.

First launched in 1964, the shinkansen network has never suffered an accident resulting in any passenger fatalities or injuries, according to Japan Railways.

The trains can travel at 285 kilometers per hour, with an average delay of 0.2 minutes.



China Snow Village Apologizes for Fake Cotton Snow 

People walk along a street in Beijing, China, 16 February 2025. (EPA) 
People walk along a street in Beijing, China, 16 February 2025. (EPA) 
TT
20

China Snow Village Apologizes for Fake Cotton Snow 

People walk along a street in Beijing, China, 16 February 2025. (EPA) 
People walk along a street in Beijing, China, 16 February 2025. (EPA) 

A tourist village in China's southwestern province of Sichuan famed for its scenic snow landscape said it was sorry for using cotton wool and soapy water to create fake snow after online criticism from visitors went viral.

In a post on its official Wechat account on February 8, the Chengdu Snow Village project said during the Lunar New Year holiday at the end of January, the weather was warm and the snow village did not take shape as anticipated.

China is facing hotter and longer heat waves and more frequent and unpredictable heavy rain as a result of climate change, the country's weather bureau has warned.

"In order to create a 'snowy' atmosphere the tourist village purchased cotton for the snow...but it did not achieve the expected effect, leaving a very bad impression on tourists who came to visit," the Chengdu Snow Village project said in the statement.

After receiving feedback from the majority of netizens, the tourist area began to clean up all the snow cotton.

The village said it "deeply apologizes" for the changes and that tourists could get a refund. The site has since been closed.

Photos on Wechat showed large cotton wool sheets strewn about the grounds, only partially covering leafy areas. A thick snow layer appeared to blanket the houses in the zone but as you got closer, it was all cotton, said one netizen.

"A snow village without snow," said another user.

"In today's age of well-developed Internet, scenic spots must advertise truthfully and avoid deception or false advertising, otherwise they will only shoot themselves in the foot."