AFP, published on Thursday, December 29, 2022 at 07:48
Katsunori Takemoto sits at the controls of an old two-car train, dons his white gloves and checks the gauges from another era before shooting his locomotive over the cabbage fields in Chiba, east of Tokyo.
Loss-making railroads are legion in rural Japan, victims of depopulation, cars, trucks and the pandemic lately.
But thanks to clever marketing, the small private company Choshi Electric Railway, which operates a single line on the outskirts of Chiba Prefecture, has been profitable in its most recent fiscal year 2021-2022 (which spans the two calendar years) while helping to promote the local Tourism.
“I am convinced that this is the task of all local trains. We want to serve as an advertising medium for the communities,” Mr. Takemoto told AFP, president of this humble railway company, which was founded a century ago and which he took over in 2011.
“Municipalities without a railway are dying. Therefore, rural train revitalization must be done within the framework of community revitalization.”
The profusion of rural lines is the legacy of Japan’s economic boom in the decades following World War II, but they could not withstand the exodus of young people to the cities.
– “We did our best” –
According to the Department of Transportation, 91 of the country’s 95 small rail companies serving areas far from urban centers or major transport routes were in the red in 2021-2022.
This is in sharp contrast to the profitability of city lines and high-speed lines (Shinkansen) like the one that connects Tokyo with Osaka, the major metropolis in the west of the country.
Often the major Japanese railway companies use their profits in urban areas to subsidize their services in rural areas.
But the giant East Japan Railway (JR East), which carries 13 million passengers a day across Tokyo and eastern Japan, appears to be losing patience.
The group lost 68 billion yen ($500 million) in 2021/22 to keep 66 sections in particularly loss-making rural areas afloat and believes it has “done the maximum” to increase its participation and reduce its costs.
“The fact is, there are areas where the train isn’t the best mode of transportation,” Takashi Takaoka, a JR East executive, said last summer.
Not everyone has the same opinion. The governors of about half of Japan’s 47 counties submitted a petition to the Ministry of Transport this year, warning that disrupting rural lines would endanger tourism and lead to spending on buses, for example.
But long-term change is inevitable, and with Japan’s accelerated aging population, where more than 29% of the population is 65 and older, a world record, innovations like self-driving vehicles are needed, experts say.
– haunted trains and wrestlers –
Meanwhile, lines like Takemoto-san’s have to get creative to resist.
Choshi Electric Railway now derives 80% of its revenue from non-railway activities, including the sale of crackers soaked in soy sauce or cornflakes.
Mr. Takemoto aggressively promotes his line on television and self-deprecatingly jokes about his cash-strapped company. His company has partnered with pop stars, comedians, and YouTubers to stay in the spotlight.
His company also held special events like “Haunted Trains” and wrestling matches, where wrestlers competed in train cars and on train platforms in front of laughing passengers.
“Ironically, we have to focus on non-rail services to keep the trains running,” Takemoto said.
“The time may come when our service as a railway company is no longer necessary (…). We’re battered, dented and covered in rust. But we believe there is still work to be done and we need to keep moving forward.”