Photo/Illutration “The best in Japan--thank you for your support,” reads a message on the side of a special train celebrating the Hanshin Tigers’ Japan Series victory. (Kazuhide Setoguchi)

NISHINOMIYA, Hyogo Prefecture–-Celebrating the Hanshin Tigers’ historic Japan Series victory, the railway operator that owns the team launched special trains on Nov. 7 featuring pictures of the baseball team’s manager and star players.

“This is our gift of gratitude to the Tigers’ fans and the local communities along our rail lines, whose support made our victory possible again after 38 long years,” said a public relations official of Hanshin Electric Railway Co.

Images of manager Akinobu Okada, cleanup hitter Yusuke Oyama and other team members decorate two trains, which also carry the message on their sides, “The best in Japan--thank you for your support.”

The special trains will run until the end of January on the Hanshin Main Line, which links Osaka and Kobe, and other lines connected to it.

Fans in the Kansai region roared with delight after the Tigers, based here, defeated the Osaka-based Orix Buffaloes on Nov. 5 to claim the Japan Series for the first time since 1985.

In another celebratory event, two other Tigers-themed trains will be connected to make special runs between Osaka Umeda Station and Kosoku Kobe Station of the Hanshin Main Line from Nov. 10 to Nov. 12.

The two decorated trains, TORACO and Torakki, usually operate only on the Mukogawa Line, a short-distance branch of the Main Line.

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