Thank you! It was an incredible trip - Japan is so beautiful and unique.
Glad you enjoyed the flat escalator! For some reason it caught my eye. The vertical parking garage was neat too (and only a few blocks away in Kanazawa)!
That is really interesting in the context of broken escalators.
When the escalator breaks, you have the flat section to rest at, just like the real stairs. Most escalators make bad stairs, because they lack such sections, and frequently have unusual rise/run lengths.
The "flat escalator section" made me laugh for some reason. Hadn't seen that before. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZ1gZOrW5Ac&list=UU5gByMec2Bi...