Travel

Tokaido Shinkansen phases out snack carts

TOKYO, Aug 09 (The Standard) - Passengers on Japan's super-fast bullet trains have long enjoyed ordering coffee, ice cream or boxed lunches from staff pushing a snack cart, savouring the treats as they whipped past landmarks such as Mount Fuji.

But faced with a looming labour shortage and a trend for more people to buy food before boarding the train, on-board snack cart services between the cities of Tokyo and Osaka will reach the end of the line on Oct. 31.

Central Japan Railway said on Tuesday it would phase out the famed on-board snack cart services, in which a uniformed vendor dispenses beverages and light refreshments, pushing their cart through the aisles of the moving train and bowing as they enter or leave the carriage.

Snack and food sales have been a mainstay on the Shinkansen, or bullet train, since it began running in 1964, the year Japan hosted the first Tokyo Olympics, a railway spokesperson said, but it was not clear when the cart services began. ...continue reading

Source: ANNnewsCH

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