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May 15, 2025
 

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RAIL

Bereaved family members observe a moment of silence on Wednesday at a memorial ceremony for a train collision that killed 42 people in the city of Koka, Shiga Prefecture.
JAPAN
May 14, 2025
34-year memorial held for victims of Shiga train collision
On May 14, 1991, an SKR train and a JR West train collided head-on in Shigaraki, now Koka, killing 42 people and injuring more than 600.
Trainees from Indonesia and Vietnam learn about the mechanisms of train doors using a model at East Japan Railway's training center in Shirakawa, Fukushima Prefecture, in March.
JAPAN / FOCUS
May 14, 2025
JR East to start training foreign nationals under new skills program
JR East aims to train around 100 people each year, and more than 10 railway operators have already expressed interest in joining the initiative.
Yoshitaka Toda, the suspect in Wednesday's knife attack at Todaimae Station on the Tokyo Metro Nanboku Line, leaves a police station in the Japanese capital the same day for a pre-detention medical examination.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
May 12, 2025
More details emerge about stabbing near Tokyo University metro station
Yoshitaka Toda, 43, claimed he stabbed a student to show how academic pressure could push a child off course.
Yoshitaka Toda is escorted out of a police station in Tokyo's Bunkyo Ward on Friday to be sent to prosecutors.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
May 9, 2025
Suspect in Tokyo Metro stabbing chose station to highlight ‘educational abuse’
Yoshitaka Toda, 43, said he struggled with mental health issues as a result of his parents’ expectations for him to excel academically.
The number of passengers on shinkansen and other express trains during Golden Week increased 3% from a year earlier to over 13 million, data from six Japan Railways group companies showed Wednesday.
BUSINESS
May 8, 2025
JR express train passengers during Golden Week up 3%
The result is believed to reflect the impact of the 2025 World Exposition in the city of Osaka, as well as demand from foreign visitors.
Kazuo Sumi, former president and chairman of railway operator Hankyu Hanshin Holdings
JAPAN
May 7, 2025
Ex-Hankyu Hanshin Holdings chief Kazuo Sumi dies at 76
The Kansai native died at his house in the city of Takarazuka, Hyogo Prefecture, on April 26.
Public transportation ridership across the U.S. hasn’t yet returned to its pre-COVID peak.
WORLD
Apr 30, 2025
A $6 billion shortfall has U.S. mass transit facing a death spiral
The Trump administration is drastically reining in federal spending, creating fear of job losses that could again decimate ridership.
A message using candles is seen during a memorial event held in the city of Amagasaki, Hyogo Prefecture, on Thursday ahead of the 20th anniversary of the 2005 Fukuchiyama Line derailment on Friday.
JAPAN
Apr 25, 2025
JR West marks 20 years since fatal derailment with renewed vow for safety
The 2005 Fukuchiyama Line derailment in the city of Amagasaki, Hyogo Prefecture, claimed 107 lives and injured more than 560 others.
Sections of the outer loop of Tokyo's Yamanote Line and the Keihin-Tohoku Line will be shut down all day Saturday, and from the start of service through around noon on Sunday.
JAPAN
Apr 17, 2025
Parts of Yamanote and Keihin-Tohoku lines to be suspended over weekend
The suspensions come as JR East pushes ahead with its Haneda Airport Access Line project.
When a bomber holds a high-speed train to ransom, it’s left to conductor Kazuya Takaichi (Tsuyoshi Kusanagi) and his colleagues to save the day in “Bullet Train Explosion.”
CULTURE / Film
Apr 17, 2025
'Bullet Train Explosion’: High-speed disaster movie doesn’t get the pulse racing
Netflix’s most lavish Japanese movie to date whizzes by without doing much damage to the image of the high-speed rail it’s promoting.
A rendering of East Japan Railway's E10 series of bullet trains
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 15, 2025
Japan to give India E5 and E3 shinkansen for free
The E10 trains are expected to be put into service in the South Asian country in the early 2030s.
Maryland Gov. Wes Moore during an interview in Tokyo. The governor is in Japan on a four-day trade and investment mission.
BUSINESS / Economy
Apr 14, 2025
Maryland governor talks trains and trade while in Japan
Gov. Wes Moore said he believes the Northeast Maglev — which may use technology from Japan — could transform the region's economy.
Overcrowded trains and a lack of legal consequences for groping in Japan have led to a rise in "chikan," or groping, which has been linked to a mental condition and compounded by cultural stigmas.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Apr 13, 2025
'Chikan' incidents rise as Japan grapples with mental health and cultural challenges
The governments of the U.K. and Canada have warned their citizens traveling to Japan that they could experience inappropriate physical contact — or "chikan" — on crowded trains
A poster calling for the earlier extension of the Hokkaido Shinkansen line to Sapporo is seen in the city's Chuo Ward in May.
JAPAN / Regional Voices: Hokkaido
Mar 31, 2025
Hokkaido's rail network faces tough challenges
Falling ridership is putting pressure on JR Hokkaido to close underutilized local lines even as it struggles to complete the Hokkaido Shinkansen.
A train station building (front) is assembled from parts printed using 3D printer technology, in Arida, Wakayama Prefecture, on Wednesday.
JAPAN
Mar 26, 2025
3D printer used to construct train station building in Japan
The station building in Wakayama Prefecture is the world's first to be built with 3D printer technology, West Japan Railway said.
Passengers that were on a morning train attacked by members of the Aum Shinrikyo group wait for medical assistance outside Kasumigaseki Station on March 20,1995.
JAPAN / Society / Longform
Mar 17, 2025
The day a religious cult brought terror to Tokyo
Thirty years after Aum Shinrikyo attacked Tokyo’s subways, the nation continues to prepare for the unthinkable.
People celebrate the first anniversary of the opening of the conventional railway line running in parallel with the extended Hokuriku Shinkansen at Fukui Station on Sunday.
JAPAN
Mar 16, 2025
Hokuriku Shinkansen extension marks first anniversary
Sunday was also the first anniversary of the opening of the conventional railway line running in parallel with the shinkansen extension.
A bullet train at Tsuruga Station on March 16 last year, the day the Hokuriku Shinkansen line was extended to Fukui
JAPAN
Mar 15, 2025
Fukui enjoys visitor boost after shinkansen extension
About 6.42 million people visited Fukui between March 16 last year and Feb. 15 this year, up by about 1 million from a year before.
Rail enthusiasts and local residents hold up a specially designed banner for arriving and departing trains at Higashi-Nemuro Station in Nemuro, Hokkaido, on Friday, the station's final day of operation.
JAPAN
Mar 14, 2025
People bid farewell to Japan's easternmost train station
As the number of users is unlikely to recover from a prolonged decline, JR Hokkaido has decided to close the station.
The Tohoku Shinkansen coupled trains at Tokyo Station on Friday
JAPAN
Mar 14, 2025
JR East resumes coupled shinkansen operations
The company halted such train operations on the Tohoku line after a pair of coupled trains suddenly became detached while traveling in Tokyo.
Transport ministry issues warning to Haneda Airport operator
The operator of Tokyo's Haneda Airport has been warned by the government over its inappropriate transactions.
Success of Chinese-made fighter jets against India raises alarm in Asia
Chinese J-10 fighter jets from the People's Liberation Army Air Force August 1st Aerobatics Team perform during a media demonstration at the Korat Royal Thai Air Force Base, Nakhon Ratchasima province, Thailand, in November 2015.
One month on, Osaka Expo urged to boost heat and crowd control measures
A gate to the Osaka Expo site is crowded with visitors on Monday.
Xi defiance pays off as Trump meets most China trade demands
Then-Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping visits a school in South Gate, California, in February 2012. Experts say Xi won big in his standoff with U.S. President Donald Trump.
Japanese retailers turn to California rice for cheaper alternative
U.S. Ambassador to Japan George Glass eats California rice at the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo on Tuesday along with Mitsuko Tsuchiya, vice president of retailer Aeon.
Sumo title contenders already emerging in early stages of Tokyo meet
Onosato (left) battles Abi on Day 3 of the Summer Basho in Tokyo on Tuesday.
Harmfully hot days for pregnant women in Japan nearly doubled over past five years
New research by a U.S. climate scientists’ group reveals that extreme heat has increased the risks of preterm births and other pregnancy complications in Japan, nearly doubling the number of days that are harmfully hot for pregnant women over the past five years.
Japanese automakers looking at a ¥1 trillion hit from Trump tariffs 
Cars on display at Nissan's headquarters in Yokohama on Tuesday. The automaker posted a massive annual net loss and confirmed that it plans to cut thousands of jobs worldwide.
Tokyo Stock Exchange wants stocks to be affordable for the average investor
The Tokyo Stock Exchange building in Nihonbashi. The exchange wants companies to lower the entry cost of investing in their shares.
Consumption tax set to dominate Upper House election debate
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba enters his office in Tokyo on Tuesday.

Podcast

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