By TAKASHI OGAWA/Staff Writer
October 14, 2022 at 18:53 JST
A special train prepares to depart Shinbashi Station in Tokyo on Oct. 14 to mark the 150th anniversary of the start of railway operations in Japan. (Tatsuya Shimada)
A special train was brought to the railroad tracks in Tokyo on Oct. 14 for a ceremony to commemorate the 150th anniversary of railway operations starting in Japan.
The ceremony was held at Shinbashi Station in Tokyo because the first steam locomotive left what is now that station bound for Yokohama 29 kilometers away on Oct. 14, 1872.
The special train traveled that same route on the morning of Oct. 14, departing Shinbashi Station at 9:33 a.m., even as commuters were getting off their trains at other platforms of the station.
About 100 lucky passengers who managed to make reservations beforehand rode the special train. They were seen off by railway fans and media representatives.
One of those passengers, Shinji Sudo, 38, of Nara Prefecture in western Japan, took a Shinkansen early in the morning to reach Tokyo.
“I think it’s incredible that trains in Japan have evolved so much in just 150 years,” said Sudo, a company employee who rode the special train with his wife, Kazuha. “I wanted to get a taste of history.”
A memorial event was held at the square in front of JR Shinbashi Station from 11 a.m.
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