Everyone knows someone who is obsessed with Japan’s easy to navigate public transportation system. Whether you’re memorizing stops and their short jingles and reflecting nostalgically on the line that took you to and from work or school all the time, there’s a lot to love! Even if you can’t be in Japan right now, you can still get some virtual experiences of the trains with Akihiko Kusanagi’s Mini Tokyo 3D page.
Drawing on public transportation data, this site provides a real-time 3D digital map of Tokyo’s transportation system, coloring each line and animating their travel (and even showing delays!). You can poke around in multiple languages, access live cameras that stream on Youtube, and even toggle layers for special events (fireworks) or weather (rain).
As the name suggests, Tokyo is the focus of the map, but it would be really cool to see it expand in the future. Hopefully the developer will also keep updating with extra features that let us live vicariously in more ways through our favorite transportation lines. Explore some more on the Mini Tokyo 3D website!