Naha’s monorail

Naha, Okinawa, Japan, has a marvelous, sophisticated monorail that offers travel in air-conditioned comfort.

You use a machine to purchase the tickets; it takes a little time to figure out the location you want and then, based on icons with “1”, “2”, adult, adult with child, two adults or other combinations, you select your ticket. On our visit there were attendants who smiled and bowed and pointed to the ticket machines but did not speak English or sell tickets.

Chimes preceded an announcement of each station in English and Japanese. We found the English rather difficult to understand, so it’s best to jot down the name of your stop and check it as the train pulls into the station, where it is displayed in Japanese and English.

ARLENE J. GOODHEAD

La Jolla, CA