RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Good morning. I'm Rachel Martin. If you've been to Japan, you know the trains there are amazing. They are clean. They are fast, and they run like clockwork. But the other day, one of the lines that connects Tokyo with Ibaraki Prefecture in the north didn't run on schedule. Apologizing is almost an art form in Japan, and so the train management issued a statement saying, quote, "we deeply apologize for the severe inconvenience imposed on our customers." How late was the train, you ask? It was 20 seconds early. It's MORNING EDITION. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.