Collaborating to Revive Japan's Stations

In recent years, many of the nation's local railways have seen a steady drop in passenger numbers

as the population continues to decline and more people opt to drive.

As a result, once-busy stations have become quiet.

The number of "unstaffed" stations with no staff present throughout the day

was 4,564 about half of all stations in Japan as of March 2020.

In response, collaborations with cafes, stores, and public facilities have begun,

to revitalize stations that have seen user numbers fall.

In today's program, we take a look at the efforts being made to revive Japan's train stations.

JR Kyushu, which operates railways in the Kyushu region,

is moving toward unstaffed stations as a way to improve operational efficiency,

while at the same time working with the local community to make better use of the station buildings, such as cafe and community space.

As the population declines, one of the problems
we are facing is fewer people using the stations.

So we are working on a project that will
make the stations and lines more lively.

Hizenhama Station is located in Kashima City in Saga Prefecture.

In 2021 a Japanese sake bar opened with direct access to the station platform.

The area around the station is known for brewing sake.

The unstaffed station / bar is now helping to revitalize the local community.

It has also become a popular stop for passing tourist trains.

The trains stop for around 50 minutes so that passengers can enjoy the local sake.

Inside, there is a standing bar counter as well as tables for sitting and drinking.

Here, you can enjoy a set menu with three different types of sake and appetizers.

The bar, which is run by a local non-profit organization, is staffed by local residents.

They chose some smooth "sake" for me to try.
I'm having a lovely time.

I'm enjoying the different tastes
the area has to offer.

As part of our revitalization plan, we created
a space easily accessible to tourists.

We hope to attract many people to the area.

The JR Misumi Line runs along the coast in western Kumamoto Prefecture.

One station building on the line is being utilized by local residents.

This is Oda Station.

Built in 1899, it is the oldest wooden station building in Kumamoto Prefecture

and is a registered tangible cultural property of Japan.

For the past 10 years, the station has been managed by the "Oda Club," a non-profit organization.

In addition to ticket sales and other services,

the organization watches over the elementary school students who ride the train to and from school.

Children pass through the station
on their way to and from school.

We watch over them as a community.

Have a good day! Take care!

In addition, the organization operates a cafe in the station building to promote the charm of the surrounding area.

The cafe serves locally produced food with tableware also made locally.

Ms. Uramoto and her organization originally started with the intention of making a place for the local community,

but now it also attracts many tourists.

Surprisingly, it became a tourist spot.

It's rare to find a cafe in an old wooden
station building like this.

It's wonderful. You can sit back and watch the trains
go by while enjoying a cup of coffee.

When we started the cafe, we wanted to create a place
where we could promote the charms of Oda.

We have always placed great importance
on the produce and tableware etc.

Our goal is to promote the area's products
in the most attractive way possible.

By doing so, we hope to
revitalize the region.

JR Kyushu is also looking for public proposals to utilize unstaffed stations.

The first such station is Futajima Station on the Chikuho Main Line in Fukuoka Prefecture.

This station became unstaffed in 2017 with the introduction of automated ticket machines and ticket gates.

Wanting to make use of the unused office space, JR Kyushu turned to the community,

calling for business proposals.

After some consideration, a local meat wholesaler was chosen to open a new store.

Here, visitors can purchase locally produced vegetables and bento boxes including specialty roast beef bentos.

It's hoped that stores selling unique local products, like this one, will attract more visitors to the station.

We'd like the station to be the
center of a lively town.

To that end, we are working to make the station
a place where people can enjoy their time;

to rebrand it as a place where the community
and station come together.

There'll be tourist information as well as opportunities
for businesses to provide other unique services.

This is JR East's Uchibo Line, which runs through Chiba, the prefecture next to Tokyo.

On this line, which runs along the Pacific coast, one station has been revitalized in a way that's never been done before.

This is Emi Station.

Over the years, as motorization took over, user numbers dropped until the station eventually became unstaffed.

However, in 2020, the station was integrated with the post office, a first for Japan.

They were thinking of moving the post office due to the
age of the building and Emi Station was unstaffed.

So they decided to build a new combined "post office
station" on the site, fulfilling the role of both services.

That's how the Emieki Post Office was created.

Two signs, one for the station and one for the post office, are posted at the entrance.

Inside the building, is a typical Japanese post office counter.

The leftmost of the five counters is the JR counter.

There, you'll find IC card charging machine

and checker at the entrance,

as well as timetables and route maps on the walls.

However, there are no JR staff.

Instead, three post office employees operate the JR terminals,

performing the duties of station staff: selling tickets and providing information on train operations.

Before the combined "post office station",
some people felt anxious.

They feel safer using the station
now there is staff present.

We will continue to work with JR and others to
make the station a place people want to come.

It's important to communicate with people both inside
and outside the community to share ideas.

We believe this kind of collaboration will help other
communities facing similar issues in the future.

Yes, it's really interesting to see how more and more unstaffed stations in Japan

are being revived to support and entertain the local community.

I especially like the sake bar.

Ah, that's nice, but I also like the cafe at the Oda Station.

Yes that one is wonderful.

And actually there's a history of probably more than half a century of utilizing the unstaffed station spaces

across Japan because there are so many of them.

But we have seen as in the video,

some new ideas coming in like the first ever collaboration of the post office with railway company

at Emi station in Chiba Prefecture.

Another sight that was really heart-warming was Ms. Uramoto, how she saw off the kids to school that was sweet.

And One element in Ms. Uramoto's story that I was impressed at was that

she didn't expect that their cafe would become the tourist destination.

And that kind of unexpectedness I think will bring in new ideas which will become the hope for the local community there.

Yes, let's look at more unique ideas how to bring the community to the stations.

Yamagata Railway's Nagai Line, is a third-sector line that runs 30.5 km through Yamagata Prefecture.

This is Nagai Station in Nagai City.

In May 2021, the City Office was relocated here, creating Japan's first integrated City Office and train station.

Nagai City has a population of about 25,000.

The Mogami River, one of Japan's most rapid rivers, flows to the east of the city center.

The river was one of the main reasons the City Office was relocated.

If the Mogami River flooded, the area around the old
City Office could be inundated by up to 1.5 meters.

That made it unfit to use as a base
for disaster response.

It became necessary to relocate
the City Office.

The old Nagai Station building, a quaint wooden structure, was built in 1936.

However, under vertical separation, the site of Yamagata Railway's station belonged to Nagai City,

so it became the location for the new government office building.

With the station already on the site, there wasn't
enough remaining land to build the City Office

so we decided to combine the two facilities.

The total cost of the project was approximately 5.4 billion yen.

The long, narrow structure extends approximately 170 meters along the railway tracks.

Yamagata Railway's headquarters is located on the first and second floors of the new city office building.

This is the concourse that accesses the platform.

By to the entrance is the station counter and ticket machine.

Tables and chairs have been placed here for public convenience, including those people waiting for the train.

We can use the facilities while
waiting for the train.

I can take care of my business the moment
I step off the train. It's very convenient.

High school students can now be seen in the
waiting room studying with their friends,

including students not waiting
for the train.

Now, it feels like the station is
constantly in use.

Heisei Chikuho Railway's Tagawa Line runs through Fukuoka Prefecture in the Kyushu region.

Along the 26.3-kilometer line, there is an unstaffed station that's currently attracting a lot of attention - Yusubaru Station.

The retro atmosphere of the Yusubaru station building,

practically unchanged since it opened in 1895, is popular among rail fans and has been used as a location for movies.

However, the station building had deteriorated so in 2022,

Heisei Chikuho Railway, in cooperation with the Nishinippon Institute of Technology and the local Aka-mura village,

renovated the station building, restoring it to look closer to how it did back when it first opened.

The design was overseen by Professor Ishigaki of the Nishinippon Institute of Technology's Department of Architecture.

Photos of the interior were hard to find. For the
most part, we kept things the same.

The counter and ticket window are
remnants of a movie filmed here.

It used to run all the way to the wall.

We added this corner to post information
about the village and events.

We didn't have any interior photos
of the windows

but from exterior photos we could see
they were wooden sash windows.

We replaced the aluminum window
frames with wooden sash frames

so the windows are now the same
as they used to be.

In addition, a train tablet apparatus a device used to prevent trains from colliding on a single track

was installed to make it more closely resemble an office from the former Japanese National Railways days.

This device was actually used on this railway up until 1991.

The company is holding an event where visitors can use this device

and feel what it was like to work as station staff back then.

In addition, the station building was designed to serve as a research center for the Nishinippon Institute of Technology.

It's the first time a university laboratory has been located in a station building in Japan.

I'm currently researching vibration control
devices. This is an oil damper.

A device like this could be used to absorb
the horizontal motion of an earthquake.

Four oil dampers have been installed
in this station building.

The architecture itself dates back to the
Meiji Era. New technology like this

could keep the building standing
for many years to come.

We get our electricity from small-scale hydroelectric
generators placed in the waterways of nearby farms.

The water turns a small water wheel
which generates electricity.

That electricity charges the batteries that
are used to power the laboratory.

A station building with a laboratory inside
probably doesn't exist anywhere else.

It's an innovative idea.

The atmosphere is completely different.

It's nice to work surrounded by nature.

In the future, the water system at Yusubaru Station will be upgraded to allow restaurants and other facilities to open,

making the station building more useful as a base for community interaction.

Technically, the station is unstaffed, but there are
people here, so it's a "manned" unstaffed station.

Currently, the station is more of a
regional hub than a tourist spot.

It would be great if the local community got
together to do something about that.

It's really unique to have a university laboratory inside a station, I would love to study there sometime.

I might have to teach there you know.

That's right.

Now Ryo people are coming to the stations, but does the railway actually benefit from that?

Definitely I think.

Well one way to interpret the situation will be that there are many people gathering at the station,

and then out of those people some will become the potential customer of the railway company.

So it's like good advertisement?

Yes, and another way to interpret the situation will be that,

the railway is already an icon for the local community but not enough people would use the railway

and that might be because people thinks that the railway is not convenient for them.

But the fact that people flock at the railway station will mean that

for those people the railway station is now a place of convenience for them.

And then people might change the perception towards the railway from what is inconvenient to what is convenient for them.

And then they're more likely to take the train.

Yes, certainly.

Wonderful.

Next up is Tourist train in Style.

Where we introduce exciting tourist trains from all across Japan.

FUJI-SANROKU RAILWAY debuted their tourist train, FUJISAN VIEW EXPRESS in 2016.

Operating on Fujikyu Railway, it runs 26.6 km between Otsuki Station and Kawaguchiko Station in Yamanashi Prefecture,

the "gateway to Mt. Fuji."

As the name suggests, the "FUJISAN VIEW EXPRESS" offers magnificent views of World Heritage listed Mt. Fuji.

They upgraded JR Central's express train car totally.

The vermilion exterior is a nod to the car's original color, back when it debuted in 1929.

Car 1 of the 3-car train is a special reserved-seat-only car.

The spacious wooden interior has a seating capacity of 26 passengers.

Car 1 is also staffed by attendants.

And Car 2, which is also a reserved-seat-only car, has different seat designs every two rows.

Car 3, with its rows of basic blue seats, is a non-reserved car.

Kawaguchiko station is the closest station to Mt. Fuji on Fujikyu Railway touted the closest railway to Mt. Fuji.

Today, we are boarding Car 1 at Kawaguchiko Station, bound for Otsuki Station.

About 10 minutes after leaving Kawaguchiko Station.

The train arrives at Mt. Fuji Station.

Because the station is a dead end, the train makes a switch back.

Car 1 now becomes the tail end of the train.

Shortly after leaving the station, Mt. Fuji can be seen from the rear of the train.

This view can only be enjoyed from Car 1.

In Car 1, an attendant is preparing a sweets set.

An original chocolate sweet in the shape of a snow-covered Mt Fuji

and eclairs made to resemble the form of the train have been prepared by a pastry chef from a hotel along the line.

These sweets are only served to passengers of Car 1 who reserved the sweets plan set in advance.

The attendant lets the passengers know that the best view spot on the line is approaching.

It's located about half way between Kawaguchiko and Otsuki stations.

The passengers enjoy the view of Mt. Fuji.

"I read about it on the internet."

"I thought it was really nice thing to try."

"It's wonderful. Great views. I've never seen rice paddy up-close."

"Well you've done a great job. It's perfect."

About 50 minutes after leaving Kawaguchiko Station, Otsuki, the terminal station, approaches.

This is the last view of Mt. Fuji. from the train.

The Fujisan View Express trains make two round trips every day,

but the "sweets plan" is mainly only available on weekends and holidays.

The sweets looked so cute.

I love the idea of eating Mt. Fuji themed sweets while looking at real Mt. Fuji.

And the wooden interior looked like a porch cafe.

Yes indeed.

But not just the interior, but also the exterior is designed in a such way that

vermillion color of the car body is making a good contrast with the blue sky and the Mt. Fuji in the background.

Before the pandemic, Fujikyu Railway was very popular among inbound tourist,

and now it's great to see that the tourists are coming back and they're taking the train.

Yes and I would like to see them enjoying Mt. Fuji as well.

For sure.