![]() Ukiyo-e artists promptly rose to the occasion, churning out colorful and sometimes fanciful renderings of the bizarre smoke-belching machines. The first arrived in Nagasaki on a Russian ship in 1853, while the second came to Yokohama in 1854 aboard one of Commodore Perry's black ships. Japan's railroad romance begins with two miniature steam locomotives introduced from abroad. ![]() Utagawa Hiroshige III, Steam Locomotive on the Yokohama Waterfront (1874), Kanagawa Prefectural Museum of Cultural History In the bargain, we get a concise lesson in modern Japanese history. The chronological presentation carries us briskly through the decades until we are viewing photos of commuters crammed into rush-hour Tokyo subways or avant-garde happenings staged on station platforms. But trains seem to appeal to artists of all eras and genres, so this diverse assemblage of paintings, sketches, and photographs serves as an excellent crash course on art in post-Edo Japan, starting with ukiyo-e but quickly moving into Western-style yoga painting - Realist, Impressionist, Fauvist, Cubist, and on and on. Most of the works treat trains and railroads as metaphors for modernity and the good life, particularly during Japan's years of headlong industrialization in the Meiji era (1868-1912). ![]() Rinsaku Akamatsu, Night Train (1901), Tokyo University of the Arts To commemorate the titular anniversary, the curators have picked out exactly 150 works for display. Art and Railway - 150th Anniversary of Railway in Japan is a rail and nostalgia buff's paradise, covering as it does just about every kind of art having anything to do with trains since the first ones arrived in Japan in the waning days of the Edo shogunate. The exhibition currently at Tokyo Station Gallery transported me back to that world. Shohachi Kimura, Shinjuku Station (1935), private collection The trains were a big part of that, and once I figured out you could go anywhere and back on a one-station ticket (10 yen!), I would ride around on them just to look at the passing scenery. Like any six-year-old I took everything around me for granted this was the world as I knew it. A decade had passed since the end of the war, but its vestiges were everywhere. War veterans with missing limbs often made their way from one end to the other, playing accordions and begging for money. The cars were dark brown inside and out, gloomy but with warm wooden fixtures. I have vivid memories of the Chuo and Yamate (now Yamanote) Line trains I took to the American School downtown in the late fifties. I like trains, and I especially like Tokyo's railways, since I grew up riding them. Yoshimatsu Goseda, Suruga Bay (year unknown), Kasama Nichido Museum of Art Here and There introduces art, artists, galleries, museums, and other cultural facilities around Japan that non-Japanese readers and first-time visitors may find of particular interest. HOME > HERE/THERE >Chasing the Train: Railroads in Japanese History and Art She said that she is overwhelmed with gratitude as the train has encouraged locals who were affected by the disaster.Chasing the Train: Railroads in Japanese History and Art The boy said that he wants to thank the train for nine years of service.Ī woman who runs a Japanese inn in Kamaishi City said that it's a pity as the train has attracted a lot of steam locomotive fans to the city. It is being retired from service because of its aging passenger carriages.Ī civic brass band dedicated a performance to the retiring locomotive while people took photos of the train.Īfter the stationmaster gave the departure signal, the train whistled and slowly set off for Hanamaki Station.Ī fifth-grader from nearby Morioka City said that it's sad that the train is retiring, but he remembers when he rode the train during a summer holiday. ![]() It made its final regular run on June 4.Ĭrowds of people gathered at Kamaishi Station on Sunday for the train's final run for packaged tours. The locomotive ran between Kamaishi and Hanamaki stations on Saturdays and Sundays. The steam train was introduced in 2014 on East Japan Railway's Kamaishi Line in Iwate Prefecture as part of efforts to revitalize areas affected by the 2011 earthquake and tsunami. The iconic steam locomotive SL Ginga has made a final run in northeastern Japan with crowds of railway fans and locals bidding farewell. ![]()
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