Over here in Singapore, many folks including myself have been complaining about the crowded public transport. For Today’s Japan Photo, we take a look at the really crowded trains in Tokyo.

Image Credit: ed yu flickr

It feels like just a little while ago when Tama first became a celebrity cat when she was appointed by Wakayama Electric Railway Co. to become the resident Station Master Cat for Kishi Station on the Kishikawa Line. For Today’s Japan Photo, we get to see Tama again on the fifth anniversary of her appointment at the train station together with her successor “Ni Tama (ニタマ)” alongside (on the right).

This cat is truly a celebrity in Japan with her own special train and even promoted to become a corporate executive of the Wakayama Electric Railway Co..

While Tama still greet tourists that travel all the way to see her, she is considerably older now and when she is napping, “Ni Tama” will take over that responsibility.

Image Credit: MSN Sankei

Hope that Tama can retire soon and spend the remaining of her years chasing yarn balls and butterflies on a nice peaceful plot of farmland ^^

Source: Mainichi Mantan and ITMedia

Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai (僕は友達が少ない) is a light novel that was adapted into an anime series that is currently airing. To create awareness for the show, a large scale advertising campagin was carried out where over 90 posters were placed all around Shinjuku JR Train Station.

Source: Mainichi Mantan and Image Credit: やらおん!

I haven’t started watching the show yet but the storyline does seem rather interesting. For those who had watched the first few episodes, what do you think of it thus far?

Stationmaster Yasuhisa Sonoda waves to the “Smile Express Pikachu” bullet train on the Tohoku Shinkansen as it leaves Tokyo’s Ueno Station on the morning of July 30, 2011. The train’s body is decorated with Pikachu and other characters from the popular anime “Pokemon” as part of a project launched by East Japan Railway Co. and All Nippon Airways to cheer up children in areas hit by the March 11 quake and tsunami. (Mainichi)

 

Image Credit: Ossip Kaehr

The East Japan Railway Co. (JR East) has recently announced that it will be operating 74 steam trains hauled by four different locomotives in Gunma Prefecture as part of a local tourism promotion campaign from Jul-Sep 2011. The Takasaki branch of JR East decided to mainly use steam locomotives for its special excursion trains during the campaign partly because of an expected shortage of electric power in the wake of the March 11 earthquake and tsunami that crippled the Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant and other power stations.

The branch will mainly operate the D51-498 locomotive that it has owned since 1988, and the C61-20 locomotive that it has just restored. It will also occasionally use the C57-180 locomotive belonging to the company’s Niigata branch and the C58-363 engine it will borrow from Chichibu Railway in Saitama Prefecture.

Image Credit: Monirath.N

I love how every passenger is nearly seated on two ends of the sets so that they are able to place their large suitcase by the side.

The eight members featured are Maeda Atsuko, Oshima Yuko, Shinoda Mariko, Takahashi Minami, Itano Tomomi, Watanabe Mayu, Kojima Haruna, and Kashiwagi Yuki.

Apart from the group and individual posters featured above, there will be additional variations for different stations. For instance, the hometown station of each member will get another version, while Iwate, Miyagi, Fukushima and Ibaraki (prefectures worse hit by the Touhoku Earthquake) will also get special versions featuring all the AKB48 members. To add incentives for fans to visit all the posters, each posters will have a QR code embedded in the corner so that fans can scan it with their cellphones and watch the personal message from their favorite member.

Source: Akiba Keizai and Oricon

Image Credit: Clark Tanaka

I’m quite sure you would never be able to see such a sight in Singapore. Everyday during the evening peak hour, I have to “wrestle” with others office workers just to board the train home.