Tokyo Metro Line - "My Grandson" on the Narita Line

A

This summer vacation in Japan we adopted a semi-self-guided approach and spent the next three days exploring Tokyo and surrounding counties and cities on our own. Taking the Tokyo subway and intercity rail is the most convenient and affordable way.

Tokyo Rail Transit is like a dense and precise network, connecting more than 200 stations inside and outside the city, reaching everywhere from east to west, north and south; with the JR Yamanote Line loop as the main artery, in addition to inward connections with various subway lines The urban rail lines leading to multiple surrounding satellite cities and airports are also seamlessly connected to it.

Looking at this dense "spider web", many people's heads may be dazzled. It doesn't matter, just plan the destination you want to go to in advance, extract a few relevant routes, and remember the main sites.

The subway riding guide for various attractions and shopping areas in Tokyo has been introduced on many travel websites, so I won’t go into details. I'm just recounting my own special experience.

B

Since the return flight is in the morning, we have to stay in a hotel in Narita City, Chiba Prefecture the night before, which is only a 15-minute drive from Narita Airport.

To go to Narita from Tokyo, you need to transfer to the urban rail at Nippori Station of the JR Yamanote Line (Loop). Although the starting station clearly says "Narita direction", which means the same as ours in Chinese, the tour guide previously reminded us not to ride to the end, but to get off at the "My Grandson" station and change to another Narita line.

The place marked by the red arrow on the upper right is the "My Grandson" station.

Everyone became interested when they saw "my grandson". Why did the Japanese name this place? Did they intend to scold someone, or was it to commemorate whose grandson was born here?

In fact, this "my grandson" cannot easily be directly translated into Simplified Chinese "my grandson" because the meaning in Japanese has nothing to do with "grandson".

Although I don’t understand Japanese, I checked the information and learned that "My grandson" is a surname with a history of more than 1,000 years in Japan. The Japanese name is あびこ (Abiko), pronounced "Abiko", which is homophonic to the Japanese word "Abiko". The Chinese characters for "my grandson" are similar, hence the strange place name with its literal Chinese meaning.

In the women's pole vault final of the 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games, Chinese athletes won the championship and runner-up, but the bronze medalist on the podium, my grandson Michi from Japan, dominated the news, mainly because of her name. curious.

C

Fortunately, the name was easy to remember, so that day we got off the bus at the "My Grandson" station in time and went to the transfer platform. But there is still a little hiccup here.

Japan’s subways have a long history, and their equipment is older than China’s new subways. We went up and down several stairs at the "My Grandson" station and finally arrived at the second platform heading to Narita.

At that time, there was a starting train parked on the platform. When I went down the stairs, I could only see the back half of the carriage. If you follow the sign above the stairs "Narita.*** direction" and take it for granted, this train The car should be heading to our destination - Narita Station.

Fortunately, before I got on the bus, I asked a little girl on the platform in English and handwritten Chinese characters for "Narita". She shook her head and said no, and pointed to an electronic display screen with a rough resolution in front of her. The names of the two lines and the stations they pass by, one of which has a slightly brighter handwriting than Narita, is the direction of the car in front of me.

It turns out that unlike domestic urban rail, two trains run in different directions at the same platform at the same time. It is easy to take the wrong direction if you are not careful!

Just when I was proud of my right choice, several Chinese people with northern accents ran down the stairs. There were five or six adults and children. It was probably a large family traveling. "Hurry up, hurry up, the train is about to leave," the middle-aged man who ran to the platform first greeted his family.

That’s right, music sounded on the platform to remind passengers that the train would close and start in ten or twenty seconds.

As soon as the whole family stepped into the carriage, this man suddenly shouted to me on the platform, "Sister, are you going to Narita?"

No! I quickly asked them to get off the bus and told them that I was also going to Narita.

The family almost hurried out of the carriage at the sound of the door closing.

The train quickly pulled out of the platform. Looking at the electronic display, the next train to Narita would have to wait for another ten minutes. Intercity railways are not as dense as the subway in Tokyo, and the return time is particularly long if you take the wrong one.

The man sighed while wiping his sweat. He said that I was Chinese, so I had to ask more questions. Who knew that one station actually ran two lines, and I was almost fooled by this "grandson".

My children and I couldn’t help but laugh when we heard it. The Chinese people are still deeply impressed by the literal meaning.