Nishinomiya's 1.3 meters tall "Manbow Tunnel" | Hacker News Reader

Nishinomiya's 1.3 meters tall "Manbow Tunnel"

www3.nhk.or.jp

41 pointsshlip22 comments

I saw some (in a Youtube vid) so narrow, in whatever mountain, that people doing MTB rides had to... unscrew the handlebar to make it loose enough so that the handlebards could then be turned 90 degrees. Otherwise the bike simply wouldn't fit (and there was no other way than that tunnel).

I forgot where that was.

EDIT: found it, it's in Switzerland. These people are insane: https://youtu.be/vZgiWYY9euM (just look at the intro and you'll see both why they're completely insane and the narrow tunnel)

> These people are insane: https://youtu.be/vZgiWYY9euM (just look at the intro and you'll see both why they're completely insane and the narrow tunnel)

That is definitely a cry for help/involuntary psychiatric hold.

Pretty condescending attitude!

Folks ride insane trails all the time: https://youtu.be/CNgOmcYCOPw?si=ohazg3Cl9poKLDNj

No kink shaming, please.

Probably Valais. It's a deep, dry valley with rain shadow. What they were biking along is an irrigation canal. At the top of the mountains the glacier gives meltwater even during dry spells. Thanks to these irrigation canals villages have enough water for their crop.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agriculture_in_Switzerland#Irr...

There are mixed pedestrian/vehicle underpasses for the Yamanote train tracks in Tokyo as well, though a bit taller (1.5m).

My understanding is that when the tracks were originally put in they were near the edge of the bay so there were still boats. However, as Tokyo expanded and the land filled in the boat tunnels were filled as well and became pedestrian and vehicle underpasses.

https://thetokyofiles.com/2013/06/30/sengakuji_underpass/

Somewhat OT, but why is it that (I'm assuming native from the accent) English narrators in Japanese produced shows seem to always have a certain recognizable ebullient tone to their narration?

[edit]

It's not just the effusiveness, but also there seems to be a high-rising terminal.

It sounds almost exactly like that female AI "tik tok voice" that's often found narrating some crappy short video.

This voice too may very well be AI. Nowadays it's really hard to tell.

I assumed it was a computer voice. Does anyone have an example of an on-camera human speaking that way? I think it'd be very off-putting to hear someone speak to me like that in person.

I've definitely heard intonation like this from before computer voices were of this quality. I don't know if I've seen an on-camera human speaking this way because it's often narrators or English dubs of Japanese content.

I hate that voice so much. So many videos that are just a vapid TTS reading some ChatGPT-esque summary with some stock footage but you only find out that's what it is after the unskippable advert.

It's an in-demand cultural speaking affect for those in the service industry or doing public narration - whether it's in Japanese or English. Think of it like Chick-Fil-A's policy of saying "my pleasure". Also, as a native English speaker you will notice your natural tone and accent change after years of living in Japan - though not necessarily in this exact style.

IMO it's a mix of tempo, lack of a proper pronunciation training (and it's harder for them) and a pinch of keigo.

To save others from having to look up, "keigo" is roughly translatable as "formal (as in etiquette) language"

That style of narration is what I'm accustomed to hearing in children's programming in the USA. I've often found Japanese English-language productions rather irritating because the script and narration style seem targeted at 5-year-olds.

This reminds me of a tunnel outside of the Interlaken Ost train station in Switzerland. It was roughly 5 ft tall and there were many people using it as a shortcut to the train station.

If you pan through here on a Google Maps streetview you can see people making their way to the railway station: https://maps.app.goo.gl/CzA5FVmWMbryCQFe9

In London the closest we've got is probably Coppermill Bridge:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LlSd0LW0XdU

Most people duck while cycling through, but i find it better to slide forward off the saddle and hang off to one side, because you can keep looking forward more easily.

Impressively low. When I was a student (in Tübingen, Germany), I regularly had to use a similar tunnel under an old freight train depot, but this one had a luxurious height of 1.9 meters: https://www.tuepedia.de/images/b/be/Eisenbahntunnel.jpg

It was regularly flooded, however.

1.9m is way taller; I'd feel claustrophobic but wouldn't have to stoop, and I'm not short.

Watching that brought back a few memories. I walked (well, quickly scuttled) through that tunnel the last time I was in Japan. For me, a mild claustrophobe, it was a somewhat scary but at the same time somewhat exhilarating experience.

This is how being 2m tall feels all of the time. :]

It’s true.

Junji Ito’s The Enigma of Amigara Fault comes to mind.

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