Photo/Illutration Omisaki Station in Shimabara, Nagasaki Prefecture. (Jun Kaneko)

“Akaji Kokusai” (literally, a deficit of grains and vegetables) is a package containing an assortment of locally produced rice and vegetables.

There is also a ballpoint pen said to be capable of erasing red ink.

Both are new items being sold in Nagasaki Prefecture by Shimabara Railway, a local deficit-ridden private railway company that is advertising, so to speak, its own chronic financial shortfall to market novelty merchandise.

Japan’s “akaji kokusai,” or deficit-covering government bonds issued to finance a fiscal shortfall, are snowballing. Is it all right to joke about that? That was initially what bothered Daiki Shimada, 39, the railway’s business manager.

“But I needn’t have worried,” said Shimada. “Everyone said if our deficit was so bad and we had to resort to selling vegetables they’d back the plan all the way.”

The company has since come up with a premium version of its original Akaji Kokusai line of assorted grains and produce.

And now, the company is filled with an unprecedented sense of elation.

The Nishi-Kyushu Shinkansen of the Kyushu Rail Co. (JR Kyushu), which starts operating on Sept. 23, will connect with the Shimabara Railway’s starting station, Isahaya Station.

Shimabara Railway is modifying its timetable to match the new bullet train service and is working with the local community to take advantage of this fantastic opportunity to revive tourism.

The railway carried 4.6 million passengers a year at the height of the tourism boom during the Showa Era (1926-1989). But after the tracks were ruined by the 1991 volcanic eruption of Mount Fugen, there was no stemming the declining ridership.

“Compared to the new Shinkansen, for which we waited half a century, the profitability of the Akaji series of merchandise is only marginal,” noted Yukei Yoshida, 63, president of Shimabara Railway. “But the Akaji has made our company name well-known.”

Trying out my ballpoint pen that can erase red ink, I thought about the public nature of railway companies.

They certainly have a unique influence that cannot be measured by profitability alone.

The flexibility of mind with which Shimabara Railway turned a deficit into humor could not have been born from a dry, matter-of-fact management policy.

Under a banner celebrating the inauguration of the Nishi-Kyushu Shinkansen, I boarded a single-car train from Shimabara Station. The train was filled with elderly shoppers and high school students on their way home from extracurricular activities.

I got off at Omisaki Station, whose signboard proclaimed itself to be “the station closest to the sea in Japan.” I fantasized about the day when the Shimabara Railway’s red ink finally turns to black.

--The Asahi Shimbun, Sept. 21

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Vox Populi, Vox Dei is a popular daily column that takes up a wide range of topics, including culture, arts and social trends and developments. Written by veteran Asahi Shimbun writers, the column provides useful perspectives on and insights into contemporary Japan and its culture.

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