The longest non-JR train line in Japan runs a limited extra-slow service that’s themed as a parody of their limited express service
wait does Japan have the rabbit/turtle metaphor for fast/slow too?
Machine translated Japanese Wikipedia has this to say:
It is believed to have flowed into Japan after the latter half of the Muromachi period, when trade with Western Europe flourished, and it began to be known in the early modern period through translations of Aesop’s fables and the Tales of Isoho . It became known to the general public after it was included in textbooks in the Meiji era. It was published under the title “Absurd Great Enemy” in the Japanese language textbook for elementary school during the Meiji period . [1]
