October 14th Is Railroads Day In Japan, Do You Like Trains?

Today, October 14th is a memorial day for Japanese railroad since it is the day the first railroad business of Japan began services 144 years ago. It was fifth year of Japanese first modern government, Meiji Government, which was established after Tokugawa Shogunate government collapsed and Samurai era was ended. 

At that time, trains run only between Shinbashi in Tokyo and Yokohama in Kanagawa prefecture and the distance was only 18 miles (29 km). However, now train lines are covering all over Japan and it has been the most common means for traveling. It's still much faster than cars' travel and easier than getting on airplanes. Also since Japanese expressway is all toll roads, train fees are not too expensive travel expenses compared with it.

In addition, the popularity of train lines is not because of only practical reasons. There are many railroads/trains lovers in Japan. Therefore every time when there is a new train line opened people rush to there. Moreover some of them are really into railroad/train business deeply like railroad-mania, or train-mania and they tend to travel to enjoy train lines than to get on trains to travel to their destinations. Somehow railroads/trains attract people a lot in Japan. 

The model trains toy shown in the photos is also not only for kids. There are very real train models and some train lovers enjoy making dioramas with them. I don't know when it began but nowadays the maniac-type fans of railroads/trains are called "Tetsu" among people. Funnily, the meaning of the name based on the direct translation would be "Irons", because the Japanese word for "railroad" is "Tetsu-dou (iron-road)".

Back to the original topic, in 1922, October 14th was set up as "Railroads' Memorial Day" initially, then the name was changed to "Railroads Day" in 1994. Apparently, every year before and after Trains' Day, special events and festivals related to railroads/trains take place here and there, also at museums of railroads/trains. If you are interested in Japanese railroad/train fan's world, you can take a look at it in these places!