"Railway in Gifu Launches New Food Model-Themed Train"

"Railway in Gifu Launches New Food Model-Themed Train"

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Welcome to "Learn Japanese from the News."
　
Join us as we learn Japanese and about the country through Japanese news stories. Today's headline is…
　
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長良川（ながらがわ）鉄道（てつどう）　「食品（しょくひん）サンプル」を楽（たの）しむ列車（れっしゃ）が走（はし）る
　
"Railway in Gifu Launches New Food Model-Themed Train"
This news story was published on NEWS WEB EASY's website on August 30th.
Now let's go over some vocab words that will help us understand what's going on.
　
食品（しょくひん）サンプル
food model
This term refers to plastic replicas of food that are commonly found in restaurant displays across Japan.
　
ＳＮＳ
This is an abbreviation that stands for "social networking service."
　
Let's keep these words in mind as we listen.
　
「岐阜県（ぎふけん）の長良川（ながらがわ）鉄道（てつどう）は8月（がつ）から、本当（ほんとう）の食（た）べ物（もの）のように見（み）える「食品（しょくひん）サンプル」を飾（かざ）った列車（れっしゃ）を運転（うんてん）しています。この鉄道（てつどう）が走（はし）っている郡上市（ぐじょうし）は食品（しょくひん）サンプルが有名（ゆうめい）で、市（し）でサンプルを作（つく）っている7つの会社（かいしゃ）と一緒（いっしょ）に始（はじ）めました。
列車（れっしゃ）の中（なか）には、すしやラーメン、ハンバーガーなど35のサンプルがあります。窓（まど）の近（ちか）くにはこぼれたみそ汁（しる）やソフトクリーム、つり革（かわ）には入（い）れ物（もの）からこぼれた納豆（なっとう）などのサンプルがあります。
千葉県（ちばけん）から来（き）た男性（だんせい）は「本当（ほんとう）にこぼれているようで、驚（おどろ）きました」と話（はな）しました。
走（はし）る時間（じかん）は会社（かいしゃ）のSNSでわかります。」
　
In August, the Nagaragawa Railway in Gifu Prefecture started running a theme train decorated with plastic food models that were made locally in Gujo City.
　
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Now we'll break down a few sentences from the story that contain helpful expressions and keywords.
Let's start with the following sentence:
　
岐阜県（ぎふけん）の長良川（ながらがわ）鉄道（てつどう）は8月（がつ）から、本当（ほんとう）の食（た）べ物（もの）のように見（み）える「食品（しょくひん）サンプル」を飾（かざ）った列車（れっしゃ）を運転（うんてん）しています。
　
"Nagaragawa Railway in Gifu Prefecture has been running a train decorated with realistic-looking food models since August."
　
Let's talk about the word よう in the phrase 食（た）べ物（もの）のように見（み）える.
　
よう has multiple uses, and one is to express similarity. We can use it to describe the condition or appearance of something by likening it to something else. For example, 鉄（てつ）のように硬（かた）いプラスチック, which means "plastic that is as hard as iron."
　
When we use よう, we're aware that the two things we're comparing are not literally the same. We're simply saying that they are comparable in certain respects.
　
So in our story the phrase 本当（ほんとう）の食（た）べ物（もの）のように見（み）える implies that the speaker knows the plastic food models aren't actual food, even though they look ultra-realistic.
　
OK, let's move on to the following sentence.
　
走（はし）る時間（じかん）は会社（かいしゃ）のSNSでわかります。
　
"Train times can be found on the company's social media."
　
ＳＮＳ is the abbreviation we use in Japanese to refer to social media platforms.
　
Now, Japanese is mostly written using three types of characters: ひらがな、カタカナ, and 漢字（かんじ）. But you'll occasionally see the Roman alphabet being used.
　
Often it's for expressions that are based on English words but were actually coined in Japan.
　
For example, there's the abbreviation ＴＰＯ, which is used to say that people should act and dress in a way that is appropriate for the "time, place, and occasion."
Another example is ＮＧ, which is short for "no good." It's used to say that something is "inappropriate" or "unacceptable."
　
OK, that's all for today.
These days many eateries have printed menus with photos of their dishes, but it's still fairly common to see restaurant displays lined with rows of food models that look good enough to eat. It's part of the fun of eating out in Japan.
　
Yep. Alright, be sure to tune in next time for more!
　
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