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www.travelweekly-asia.com | 3 TALKING POINT Published by NORTHSTAR TRAVEL MEDIA SINGAPORE PTE LTD SINGAPORE 91 Bencoolen Street, #05-08 Sunshine Plaza, Singapore 189652 • TEL: +65-6801-0450 FAX: +65-6801-0469 BEIJING Room 024, Building 8, Qijiayuan Diplomatic Compound, No.9 Jianguomenwai Street, Chaoyang District 100600, China • TEL: +8610-8532 3611 | FAX: +8610-8532 5293 SHANGHAI Room 2553, The Headquarters Building, No.168 Central XiZhang Road, Shanghai 200001, China • TEL: +8621-5179 8360 | FAX: +8621-5179 8360 Travel Weekly Asia is published on a monthly basis by Northstar Travel Media Singapore Pte Ltd. Located at 91 Bencoolen Street, #05-08 Sunshine Plaza, Singapore 189652. All rights reserved. Volume 10 Issue 8 Please address all subscription mail to the above address, Fax +852 3020 5794, or email travelweeklyasia@asia-ad.net. Online Subscription: www.travelweekly-asia.com/subscribe For reprints or copyright permission contact Travel Weekly Asia at +65 6801 0450 or email to twasia-salesmtg@travelweekly.com Printed by TIMES PRINTERS PRIVATE LIMITED (L008/08/2018) Travel Weekly Asia is BPA audited, with 11,100 print circulation and 22,265 eNewsletter circulation as of Dec 31, 2018. Around the world, BPA is the preferred third-party auditor for advertiser-supported business publications (including print and digital editions). BPA verifies paid, controlled, or any combination of paid and controlled circulation, and reports the data in a single Brand Report. Founded in 1931 BPA Worldwide is an independent, not-for-profit, self-regulating organization governed by a tripartite Board. NORTHSTAR TRAVEL GROUP (ASIA) VICE PRESIDENT/GROUP PUBLISHER, ASIA Irene Chua Tel: (65) 6801 0451 | ichua@travelweekly.com EDITORIAL EDITORIAL DIRECTOR Yeoh Siew Hoon Tel: (65) 6801 0450 | syeoh@ntmllc.com EDITOR-AT-LARGE Ian Jarrett Tel: (618) 9433 6455 | ian.jarrett@travelweekly.com SENIOR EDITOR Stanley Ho Tel: (65) 6801 0457 | stanley.ho@ntmllc.com EDITOR Lee Xin Hui Tel: (65) 6801 0453 | xinhui.lee@ntmllc.com REPORTER Naomi Neoh Tel: (65) 6801 0461 | naomi.neoh@ntmllc.com HONG KONG CORRESPONDENT Catharine Nicol | cn@monsterpix.hk MALAYSIA CORRESPONDENT S.S. 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Kemp CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER Lisa Cohen PRESIDENT, TRAVEL GROUP Robert G. Sullivan CHIEF DIGITAL OFFICER Matthew Yorke EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT/GROUP PUBLISHER David Blansfield EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT/EDITORIAL DIRECTOR Arnie Weissmann SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT/CHIEF CONTENT DIRECTOR Lori Cioffi SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT, HUMAN RESOURCES Janine L. Bavoso SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT, PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT & PRODUCTION Roberta Muller SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT, IT INFRASTRUCTURE & OPERATIONS Rich Mastropietro VICE PRESIDENT, INFORMATION PRODUCTS GROUP Sheila Rice VICE PRESIDENT, DATABASE PRODUCTS Elizabeth Koesser TRAVEL WEEKLY EVENTS PRESIDENT, TRAVEL GROUP Robert G. Sullivan SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT, EVENTS, TRAVEL GROUP Alicia Evanko-Lewis COVER CREDIT: KHIN SAN CHIN BY CHRISTIAN DEVELTER Arnie Weissmann has been involved in virtually every aspect of travel jour- nalism, publishing and media for the past 25 years. His writing has won more than 40 national awards, he created the industry's first destination information service (Weissmann Reports), authored a best-selling textbook and has served as publisher of critical hotel and destination guides for the travel industry. Virtues of copying ideas In his autobiography, "Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!" (W.W. Norton & Co., 1985), physicist and Nobel Prize recipient Richard Feynman described being on a committee that included some of the greatest scientific minds of his time, all working on the same problem. They sat around a table, each in turn presenting a different possible solution. After everyone spoke, the chairman said it was clear which was the likeliest hypothesis, and they would all proceed in that direction. The committee members' ability to put aside ego and accept that someone else's idea was superior, without an argument, struck Feynman as remarkable. When travelling abroad this summer, it struck me that processes exist that should be acknowledged as superior, and other destinations should simply adopt them without further discussion. Yes, we travel to be exposed to different ways of doing things, but when a society comes up with something that makes a traveller want to yell "Hallelujah!" every other destination should implement that idea, pronto. That became clear to me after I returned from 10 days in Japan. I had an appointment to see my dentist, and he told me he, too, was headed to Japan. He added that even though he and his wife like to travel independently, they had signed up for a tour. The language barrier made him nervous about getting around. With cotton in my mouth and no feeling in half my tongue, I mumbled that, yes, language could be a challenge. But I also told him how, on several occasions, I found that Japan understood not everyone reads and speaks their language, and they go to great lengths to make it easier for visitors. I doubt my dentist's language/transportation anxiety is atypical. Maybe it's amplified because he lives in New York, where the transport systems appeared designed to confound visitors. Perhaps the simplest and cheapest improvement that the New York City Transit Authority (and other subway operators around the world) could mimic from Japan is to assign a number and a name to a station. In Japan, I didn't have to memorise long names written in another language; all I knew was I was getting on at 85 and off at 77. And when I did encounter a problem (a machine didn't return a ticket to enable me to transfer), I approached a ticket agent, asking if he spoke English. He didn't, but he produced a tablet with a translation app. I spoke my problem into it, perhaps a little too colloquially - my explanation was that the turnstile "eight" my ticket. Undeterred, he picked up a phone, spoke into it, and handed me the receiver. "This is the transit translation service," a woman's voice said in English. "How can I help you?" While I can gush about Japanese subways – the cleanliness, the comfort of the seats, the punctuality, ticket machines offering a dozen languages – I should note they have a legacy network of multiple private companies running intersecting train lines, which can make transfers, day passes and ticketing confusing. Still, there are plenty of transit ideas in Japan to steal. Among the cabs when I stepped out of the Kyoto station upon arriving from Tokyo were a few that had a sign on the roof reading "Foreign Friendly Taxi." I approached one; the driver spoke perfect English and even helped me with orientation to the city. No advance reservation needed, no extra charge. This is an abridged version of an article that first appeared in Travel Weekly US.

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