Stepping off the shinkansen at Okayama Station and crossing over to the iron rails and worn stone of the city's aged streetcar system, you experience an abrupt transition in time and space.
An aerial photo of almost any major Japanese city taken 40 or 50 years ago would have revealed streets thoroughly incised with streetcar lines. Their use rose considerably after the war, reaching a peak in the 1950s. Although most streetcars disappeared in a final wave of decommissioning in the '60s and early '70s, cities crisscrossed with tracks and overhead power cables are still found in some parts of Japan, especially western Honshu and Kyushu.
Called chin chin densha in Japanese -- a euphonic rendering of the sound made by the starting bell -- Okayama's streetcar system is efficient and cheap.