Altered maps IZ: gib clay!

[warpus]

My Japan Transportation Fever 2 playthrough continues! And as such the rail network expands. The map has been modified to make it easier to see all 4 islands - the 3 smaller islands are now enclosed in grey boxes (Hokkaido in the north, Kyushu in the south, Shikoku in the south-east)

One of the new lines is the "Grape" line, a metro map making software default name that needs changing. This line connects multiple other rail lines and makes it more efficient to move between them. Plans are to eventually extend this line from Maizuru station to Otsu station, connecting to the Shinkansen West line.

The Shikoku line is also new, it connects Shikoku island to Honshu island to the north and Kyushu island to the south.

Tokyo also now has an airport, the only airport without a rail station right beside it.. but it does have an express LRT connection to the Tokyo rail station. I have also built up multiple LRT lines that connect to the airport and provide rapid transit lines in that part of Tokyo and nearby cities.

Spoiler :

Next up on my project list is to create a line that starts in the north @ Aomori and runs south through the centre of the island, connecting up new towns that don't have any rail connections yet. I'm not sure how far south that is going to run, maybe to Osaka or somewhere near there.

 

[Birdjaguar]

Not exactly maps, but close enough I think.

 

[BenitoChavez]

I've never seen Primer but it looks like one hell of a movie.

 

[Kyriakos]

So basically the northern Andes/Inca.

 

[warpus]

The Quechua culture survives to this day. There are 5 million Quechua language speakers in Peru. I mention them specifically because I spent 3 weeks in that country, including cities where a lot of Quechua live. The Quechua presence is very visible in Cuzco and other towns in the Andes. The guide who led us on a multiday trek through the Andes is Quechua, he proudly told us that his ancestors were Inca.

An interesting thing he told us that is that the Peruvian government allows Quechua farmers to legally cultivate coca plants. They sell the bulk of their harvests to the government, which is a part of how their community is able to support itself. They are also allowed to legally keep a small % of their harvests and use it for cultural and spiritual uses, something they have been doing for hundreds of years, dating back to days before the Europeans arrived. It's why you are able to walk into a market in Cuzco and legally buy baggies of coca leaves. They are recommended for hikers who are hiking at high altitudes, as the alkaloids in the coca leaves help your body with that. The Inca figured this out a long time ago and made use of it, the Quecha people consider the coca plant as sacred, and not something to abuse. Your Quechua guide will teach you how to chew the leaves properly, if you ask. What's also interesting is that if you look closer at a lot of depictions of Incan priests, you will see their cheeks bulge out like a chipmunks' might. This is an indication that they are chewing coca leaves, which from what I remember was highlighted in their depictions to indicate that they were of a higher status than other Incans - i.e. they were not only using coca for spiritual purposes, but also sort of showing off that they were able to chew large quantities of it at the same time, bringing them closer to their gods.

What the Peruvian government does with all that coca they buy from the Quechua is interesting. Some of it is turned into coca candy that tourists and others can buy. Some of it is turned into a variety of teas. If you go hiking in the Peruvian Andes chances are you will be offered coca tea at some point or other - it helps your body deal with high altitudes. Our guide speculated that some amount of the coca is turned into cocaine and sold on the black market, but that was speculation on his part

Overall I found the Quechua people friendly and welcoming. They seem to consider themselves to be both Peruvian and Quechua, although I am only going by what I experienced firsthand. It's likely a lot more nuanced than that, and might depend on who you talk to.

 

[Comrade Ceasefire]

Next up on my project list is to create a line that starts in the north @ Aomori and runs south through the centre of the island, connecting up new towns that don't have any rail connections yet. I'm not sure how far south that is going to run, maybe to Osaka or somewhere near there.

Can you add in-transit entertainment to make it more realistic?

Minoru Suzuki and Sanshiro Takagi, wrestlers from Japanese professional wrestling promotion DDT Pro-Wrestling, fight inside a Tokaido Shinkansen bullet train from Tokyo to Nagoya during a wrestling show on Sept 18, 2023.

And that reminds me: in-transit music by the Squirrel Nut Zippers (Grippers?) might be appropriate.

 

[Kyriakos]

Pretty natural to have so many poles when it resembles the borders of Poland.

 

[Kyriakos]

What the ascii character "@" is called in various euro countries:

Snail is the obvious one. I like the Elephant Celebes too.

 

[Arakhor]

And yet in English, we call it the "at symbol". How dull.

 

[Kyriakos]

And yet in English, we call it the "at symbol". How dull.

For the same reason an alien species wouldn't name itself after how it looks

 

[The_J]

God... that's a long time I've not heard the German word for this. I think we also mostly just say "at".
(not 100% sure, haven't lived there for a while)

 

[Kyriakos]

I say "at" too, but the strange local term is pretty ubiquitous (or at least was in the past). I am not sure how it came to be- misunderstanding isn't unlikely.

 

[really]

And yet in English, we call it the "at symbol". How dull.

That's where it comes from.
It was accounting shorthand that made it onto typewriter keyboards.
7 widgets @ £1 each
# has much older origins as a measure of weight but also made its way onto keyboards as accounting shorthand for number.

 

[Bonyduck Campersang]

Japanese map from 1942

 

[amadeus]

View attachment 691717
Japanese map from 1942

Some things to note:

• the Vienna Award giving Hungary a big chunk of Romania isn’t shown (but the state of Croatia after the partition of Yugoslavia is)
• the Transjordan is listed as Karak
• Baluchistan is separated from the rest of India

Perhaps of interest to Chinese and Japanese speakers:
• Seoul is under its old colonial name Keijo (京城)
• Mongolia uses the old characters 蒙古 mouko, everything being read right-to-left in these old maps
• China (and Indochina) is also 支那 in some places, but the country itself is still called 中華民國, chuuka minkoku, Republic of China

 

[Kyriakos]

Some things to note:

• the Vienna Award giving Hungary a big chunk of Romania isn’t shown (but the state of Croatia after the partition of Yugoslavia is)
• the Transjordan is listed as Karak
• Baluchistan is separated from the rest of India

Perhaps of interest to Chinese and Japanese speakers:
• Seoul is under its old colonial name Keijo (京城)
• Mongolia uses the old characters 蒙古 mouko, everything being read right-to-left in these old maps
• China (and Indochina) is also 支那 in some places, but the country itself is still called 中華民國, chuuka minkoku, Republic of China

Is Croatia there at all? I can't read the japanese (so maybe Yugoslavia was called "Croatia"?), but clearly the exclave is italian (same with Albania) and the capital of the rest of Yugoslavia is Belgrade.

 

[amadeus]

@Kyriakos it says Croatia

ク　ku
ロ　ro
ア　a
チ　chi
ヤ　ya

 

[Kyriakos]

 

[Bonyduck Campersang]

View attachment 691901

Salman bin Abdul-Aziz (who is in his 70s or 80s) is the de jure leader of Saudi Arabia, not MBS

Edit: never mind, just noticed the asterisk

 

[amadeus]

View attachment 691901

Here’s a few who’ve come and gone:

Valentine Strasser was 25 (and 0.1 months) old when he seized power in Sierra Leone in 1992.

Muammar Gadhafi was 27.

And on the other end, when Malawi became independent in 1964, their Prime Minister was Hastings Banda, already 65 years old—he would continue to govern Malawi as dictator for thirty years.