Japan Has What I Consider To Be,

one of the safest, finest railway systems in the world,

almost exactly 150 years ago the first railway route in Japan opened on October 14, 1872 and connected what is current-day Shinbashi to Yokohama above “Steam Locomotive on the Yokohama Waterfront” (1874) by Utagawa Hiroshige III. Courtesy Kobe City Museum, to celebrate this milestone the Tokyo Station Gallery embarked on an ambitious journey themselves: a collection of roughly 150 items from all over Japan capturing the history of the rail, some of the illustrations are above and below, 

 

“A Steam Locomotive Bound for Heaven, from Journeys through Heaven and Hell” (1872) by Kawanabe Kyosai. Courtesy Seikado Bunko Art Museum, this was from the pre-rail era, where artists were simply imagining what trains might look like,

“Night Train” (1901) by Akamatsu Rinsaku. Courtesy Tokyo University of the Arts,

“Suruga Bay” (early 1900s) by Goseda Yoshimatsu. Courtesy Kasama Nichido Museum of Art,

“View of Takanawa Ushimachi beneath a Shrouded Moon” (1879) by Kobayashi Kiyochika. Courtesy Machida City Museum of Graphic Arts,

“Shinjuku Station” (1935) by Kimura Shohachi. Private collection,

and this has got to be great fun for the family, a train running through a bathhouse, “Paradise Scene No. 8: Shinsekai Park Onsen, A New Way of Bathing” (2007) by Paramodel. ©paramodel/photo:yasuhiko hayashi, “Art and Railway –150th Anniversary of Railway in Japan” is on display now through January 9, 2023 at the Tokyo Station Gallery. General admission is 1400 yen, at today's rate £8.72 or $9.61, Japan and railways, I can not think of a better combination, would I like to go? yes please!