I’ve had to tell Maria that I would leave her for the woman who does the recorded English announcements on the JR Yamanote Line…if I only knew who she was . Her voice is soo nice. I always look forward to passing through Tokyo station, as there are a number of connecting subway lines there, so the announcement is particularly long.

Adding to my many previous examples which prove that you can find absolutely anything on the Internet, someone posted a sound file of one of her announcements (scroll about halfway down the page for it). For some reason her voice sounds a little more nasally in that recording than it actually is, but you’ll get the idea.

The Yamanote line also has TV screens above the doors (I posted a picture in 2004, from our last trip). Currently, Berlitz is running a regular series on the screens - 1-minute “trainglish” lessons, for Japanese salarymen to learn snappy English phrases like “wrap up” - e.g. “I’m wrapping up the report now.” The woman providing the lessons is awfully cute too…