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The Yamanote is a rapid transit railway line circling central Tokyo. Starting from here the Japanese capital presents itself in its own diversity and offers a fascinating experience. The one-hour-trip shows many different aspects of the city and provides an insight into the city off the beaten tourist track. Riding the Yamanaote gives a feeling for Japanese everyday life.
The video Yamanote tries to trace this everyday experience, which – for Europeans – becomes some kind of experience of the Other. In everyday life, riding a commuter railway is rather unspectacular. In Japan it offers parallels to our own lives. But the prospect of the foreign city as well as the announcements in Japanese and English and the coversation of the fellow travellers draws the video's audience into a foreign world that is not exotic at all. The experience of the Other comes along quite well-known. |