In Japan, in provincial prefectures, there are no turnstiles at train stations. There is an automated system where you need to tap your transportation card both at the entrance and exit. There is a box where you can discard your used ticket. However, there are no turnstiles or restrictions whatsoever!
By the way, they never check documents when boarding trains here, even for intercity trains. Tickets are usually ‘checked’ by the turnstile, at least in big cities.
In the provinces, during the day, there is a responsible person at the station who checks for the presence of a ticket at the entrance. But in the evening, there is no one, and the ticket window is closed.
You can buy tickets at the machines, but there is no thorough control in this process.
Some stations are completely deserted, where no one works! You can come and go, and no one is watching.
And, apparently, in some cases, there are no ticket machines at all, as today I saw people who entered at one station buying tickets directly on the train from the conductor! In Japan (except for express trains), I saw this for the first time.
I’m thinking of writing an article comparing capital cities and the provinces. Would this be interesting?