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August 25, 2025
 

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RAIL

The 8620-class steam locomotive was manufactured in 1922 during Japan's Taisho Era (1912-1926).
LIFE / Lifestyle
Mar 30, 2024
One last journey for Japan's oldest steam train
Japan's 101-year-old steam locomotive has made its final journey, thought it may live on as a museum piece in the future.
Shizue Takahashi, a bereaved family member of the 1995 sarin attack on the Tokyo subway system, offers a prayer at Kasumigaseki Station on Wednesday, the 29th anniversary of the attack.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Mar 20, 2024
Japan marks 29th anniversary of Tokyo subway sarin attack
The Aum Shinrikyo doomsday cult's sarin nerve gas attack on the Tokyo subway system killed 14 people and injured more than 6,000.
Made by Karimoku, Keiji Ashikawa’s design of the JAL Boeing 777 cabin window stool uses an outer window pane from the plane as a transparent seat set on a base comprising recycled oak off-cuts.
LIFE / Style & Design / ON: DESIGN
Mar 16, 2024
Recycling old JAL planes and bullet trains into design treasures
This month, On: Design looks at recycled products designed to rev the engines of plane and train enthusiasts.
JAPAN
Mar 14, 2024
Hokuriku Shinkansen's Kanazawa-Tsuruga extension set to open Saturday
The opening of the new section is expected to contribute to reconstruction efforts in the Hokuriku region in central Japan.
Hankyu's new PRiVACE carriages will feature spacious seats arranged in three rows, equipped with partitions, reading lights, and power sockets.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 27, 2024
Hankyu railway to launch new premium seat service on Kyoto Line
The new PRiVACE carriages will feature spacious seats arranged in three rows, equipped with partitions, reading lights, and power sockets.
Sun simulation at the Rail Tec Arsenal facility in Vienna, Austria, on Dec. 15, 2023
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Feb 16, 2024
Climate change threatens EU trains, but resilience is expensive
Europe’s railways, a safe, low-carbon technology that still carries a little glamor, are on the brink of a new era.
A railway crossing in Japan. A railway crossing gate in Osaka city opened before a train passed through on Tuesday, scraping a car that had proceeded to cross.
JAPAN / Society
Feb 7, 2024
Train scrapes car in Osaka after railway crossing gate opens prematurely
No one was hurt in the incident, which was caused by stray bolts causing a malfunction of a system that detects approaching trains.
Ukrainian Railway trains at the central railway station of Kyiv on Sunday
JAPAN
Feb 7, 2024
Ukrainian Railways to buy rails from Nippon Steel
Nippon Steel plans to deliver about 15,000 metric tons of rails in summer and 7,500 metric tons next year.
JAPAN
Feb 5, 2024
Heavy snow falls in Tokyo and wider region, impacting transport networks
While the snowfall may peak overnight, those commuting on Tuesday morning are likely to encounter icy roads and impacts on trains or roadways.
The Jakarta-Bandung high-speed train is the first of its kind in Southeast Asia, even faster than the shinkansen. However, demand for the new railway service remains lacking.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jan 29, 2024
Linking 17,000 islands in Indonesia tests a nation on the rise
President Joko Widodo's grand vision for the world’s largest archipelago is colliding with financial realities.
Tokyo Metro plans to go public in the fiscal year that starts in April.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 26, 2024
Tokyo Metro to go public as Japan seeks to reap benefits of buoyant stock market
The company, which is owned by the national government and the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, will be listed in the year that begins in April.
Noto Tetsudo's Anamizu Station in Anamizu, Ishikawa Prefecture, on Jan. 15. The local railway's services have been fully suspended since a powerful New Year's Day earthquake.
JAPAN
Jan 26, 2024
Quake-hit railway vows to resume services
Noto Tetsudo is hoping to bring part of its 33.1-kilometer railway back online in February.
BUSINESS
Jan 6, 2024
JR passengers up 8% during year-end and New Year's holidays
The combined number of users of bullet trains and other rail services came to around 9,869,000 for the period from Dec. 28 to Thursday.
JAPAN
Dec 15, 2023
JR Central changes opening date of maglev shinkansen line
The line will open "no earlier than 2027" due to uncertainties over when drilling works for a tunnel in Shizuoka Prefecture can commence.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Dec 2, 2023
Tokaido Shinkansen train halted after apparent bear spray release
At least five passengers fell ill as the bullet train was halted at JR Hamamatsu Station in Shizuoka Prefecture.
Tunnel construction for the Hokkaido Shinkansen has proved slow in some areas due to geological reasons and the difficulty of blasting through the earth.
JAPAN / Society / Regional Voices: Hokkaido
Nov 20, 2023
Tight labor market puts Hokkaido Shinkansen 2030 goal in doubt
The 212-kilometer route now under construction will link cities between Hakodate, at the southern tip of the prefecture, and Sapporo.
A worker supervises construction work on a wave breaker in the port of Salina Cruz, Oaxaca, Mexico, on Oct. 9, as part of expansion works on the Interoceanic Railway that connects the Pacific Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico.
BUSINESS
Nov 16, 2023
Mexico building rail rival as water shortages drain Panama Canal
By 2028, the Isthmus of Tehuantepec Interoceanic Corridor should see 300,000 cargo containers transit every year, with 1.4 million by 2033.
Train service on Tokyo’s Yamanote Line will be partially suspended this weekend.
JAPAN / Society
Nov 15, 2023
Yamanote Line set for closures and reduced service Nov. 18 and 19
Train service on Tokyo’s Yamanote Line will be partially suspended this weekend as part of ongoing construction work at Shibuya Station.
JR Kyushu is investigating four foreign YouTubers who seemingly took free rides on trains around the country.
JAPAN / Society
Oct 24, 2023
Railway operator investigates free-riding foreign YouTubers
A YouTuber known as Fidias posted a video of the four riding trains around Japan, apparently without paying for tickets.
JAPAN
Oct 18, 2023
Bullet train lines to nix smoking rooms as health consciousness grows
As of next spring, the smoking rooms will be replaced with areas to store drinking water to be distributed in times of emergency.
Japan to revise romanization rules for first time in 70 years
The Agency for Cultural Affairs is recommending replacing the government’s long-standing Kunrei system with more widely used Hepburn-style spellings.
Character-crazed Japan has little appetite for Labubu
A pop-up advertisement for the newly opened Chiikawa Park in Tokyo's Ikebukuro neighborhood demonstrates how the country is chockful of cute characters — to the detriment of trends like Labubu.
Emperor emeritus and empress emerita visit postwar settlement
Emperor Emeritus Akihito and Empress Emerita Michiko strolled through a cabbage field in Ohinata settlement in Karuizawa, Nagano Prefecture, on Saturday.
At meeting rich in symbolism, Ishiba and South Korea's Lee agree to steadily build ties
South Korean President Lee Jae Myung and Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba shake hands at joint press announcement after summit talks in Tokyo on Saturday.
Are 'coolcations' the answer for Japan's heat-weary tourists?
Hikers on a trail in Hakuba, Nagano Prefecture. As extreme heat continues to grip Japan, a tectonic shift may be underway in the nation’s summer tourism scene as more people gravitate toward cooler destinations.
Are 'coolcations' the answer for Japan's heat-weary tourists?
Hikers on a trail in Hakuba, Nagano Prefecture. As extreme heat continues to grip Japan, a tectonic shift may be underway in the nation’s summer tourism scene as more people gravitate toward cooler destinations.
Germany's first sakemaker offers a bold brew of ideas
Reigen, Germany's first sake brewery, makes a diverse, nontraditional range of sake that includes fruit-flavored sips and wine barrel-aged renditions.
Alicia Keys closed Summer Sonic, but J-pop owned it
Summer Sonic’s 2025 lineup demonstrated its strength, showcasing the latest in J-pop, including “new kawaii” act Fruits Zipper.
Is the LDP’s catch-all approach to politics still effective?
Former economic security minister Sanae Takaichi visits Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo on Aug. 15. Political commentator Toru Hashimoto has suggested that Takaichi ought to lead a group of like-minded hawkish politicians out of the Liberal Democratic Party and form their own party.
Fingers sore from too much phone time? You might have ‘sumaho yubi.’
A catch-all term for tendonitis and arthritis caused by excessive smartphone use, 'sumaho yubi' may be difficult to treat for gadget-crazy Japan.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

Tetsuzo Shiraishi, speaking at The Center of the Tokyo Raids and War Damage, uses a thermos to explain how he experienced the U.S. firebombing of March 1945, when he was just 7 years old.
From ashes to high-rises: A survivor’s account of Tokyo’s postwar past
By Alex K.T. Martin

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