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As has shown in Shinkansen, Japanese railway system has achieved great success in the last 50 years. Because of its large population and mountainous landfield, the railway has kept about 30% of the domestic transportation share, and more than 50% of the urban transportation. Subway and JR (elevated railway) cover most of the Tokyo metropolitan area. Ten-cars trains come every 2 minutes in the morning, but obviously their capacity is not enough for enormous numbers of commuters.

Comparing to other countries, one charactristic in Japanese railway system is the role of private railways. Some private railway companies sell houses along with their lines, operate amusement parks and transport commuters. There are 10 big train companies and more than 50 small ones. Each of them has original rolling stocks with different colors and styles.

There was a national railway (called Kokutetsu) in Japan, but now it is privatized and splitted into 7 private companies called JR -- Japan Railway. They operate Shinkansen, inter-city expresses, regional services and urban area transport. The privatization was apparently successful, as is shown that they do not require any financial aid from the government in recent years. (Kei)

Choose the type of trains from the followings:

• Shinkansen
• Tokyo Trains
• Osaka/Kyoto/Kobe Trains
• Nagoya Trains

JR-East EMUs in Tohoku	Senseki Line in Sendai	Nambu-Jukan Railway	Blue Train (night train)
	Senseki line runs near Sendai city. Older stocks from Tokyo are beautifully refurblished and used.

JR-East Shinetsu-Line Usui Samite	JR-East EMUs in Nagano	JR-East DMUs in Nagano

JR-West EMUs in Hokuriku	JNR/JR EMU Series 485	JR-West DMUs in Hokuriku	Toyama Chitetsu

Fukui Railway EMU 80, 140, 120	Fukui Railway EMU 200	Fukui Railway EMU 300	Fukui Railway EMU 600

Hiroden Type 700, 800 and 1200	Hiroden Type 700, 800 and 1200	Hiroden Type 3000, 3500, 3900, 3950, 5000, 5100

JR Shikoku DMUs	JR Shikoku, DMU 185, 2000	JR Shikoku EMUs	Tosa Tramway in Shikoku
JR Shikoku takes charge of railway services in Shikoku. The northern lines from Takamatsu to Matsuyama and the Seto Bridge Line is electrified, but other lines are served by diesel stocks. Pictures were taken near Kochi and Tokushima at March, 1998.

JR/JNR EL EF65	JR/JNR Electric Locomotives	JR/JNR Diesel Locomotives	JR Locomotives in Tabata Depot
			Locomotives at Tabata depot.

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