railcar

April 19, 2010

The Coolest (or at least the Cutest) Train Car in the World: Wakayama Electric Railway’s Tama Densha Cat Train

One of my more crazy missions when I was in Japan was to see the feline Station Master Cat, Tama. Everybody pretty much loves Tama. When Wakayama Electric Railway was on the verge of bankruptcy, Station Master positions were eliminated, and the stations left unmanned. The decision to make a stray calico cat the honorary Station Master may have been the best decision the company ever made. Tama gained quite a following of fans. Many folks began taking the train: to see her! A study by Osaka University was conducted, which found that Tama brought at least one billion Japanese...

Cool Decorated Trains in Japan

There were a lot of cool trains that I got to ride in Japan. Some were amazingly fast, others had decorated outsides. I put together a little gallery of some of the cooler trains that I enjoyed riding, or seeing on the platform. Enjoy the photos! Train ID: Thomas the Tank Engine Train: Keihan Railways (I think), Kyoto, Japan World of Peter Rabbit Train: Japan Railways, Osaka, Japan Flowered Train: Nankai Railways, Wakayama Prefecture, Japan Universal Studios Train: Japan Railways, Osaka, Japan Purple Nature Motif Train: Japan Railways, Wakayama Prefecture, Japan Although these may be pretty on the outside, they...