Train companies, pretty much like any other business out there, try to make money and this is why you will usually see such companies close specific stations if no one is using them any more. This is why it seems very interesting that Kyu-Shirataki station is active, because no one tends to use this type of transportation any more.
Except a single person. Yes, a train station and more specifically the one in Kyu-Shirataki is kept running due to a single passenger which is a small girl that goes to and from school. In fact, this is the only reason why the entire railroad is still running, and the entire fact that the care so much about the girl and her education does tell a lot about the country and what happens there.
女子高生一人しか利用者がいない駅、✌( 'ω' )✌最高～ pic.twitter.com/NzYiDaUvCG
— はばたくキツネ (@foxnumber6) December 31, 2015
It’s amazing that Kyu-Shirataki and Japan as a whole see the entire system as being very important, because it does deliver quite a lot of time and appreciation into this process. Let’s face it, sometimes it can be tough to face the entire technology and innovation, but Japan is still making sure that the old regions still have the ability to use transportation.
This is at least for a little while, because while the regions of Japan which are very modern are now using the high speed trains and the others, such as Kyu-Shirataki for example, find it very difficult to get around from one place to another. It can be hard for kids to go to school but thankfully the Japanese government is working very hard in order to maintain a huge focus on education and that can clearly be seen in this regard.
It’s amazing to see a young girl being the only reason that a train stops in Kyu-Shirataki, but this is actually real and quite impressive on its own. Unfortunately, it might be one of the only stories that you will see from these remote regions of Japan, because even this particular station will be stopped when the girl will graduate sometime this year.
Busy stations by JR in Tokyo can look like this
Is this something that we need to think about in Europe and other regions of the world? With cities becoming more important than the remote regions of the world, you will see that rural railroads are slowly stopped and put out of service.
At least for me, this is exactly what we shouldn’t do, because we want evolution and closing railroad stations or anything else for that matter is just a waste of resources. If this will work in the end or not is really hard to tell, but one thing is certain, we have yet to see the results unfold and that’s what matters the most! Hopefully this is only an isolated place and the railroads will evolve rather than being closed, but even so the Kyu-Shirataki situation is a thing of beauty because allowing a girl to reach school is an honest and pleasant thing, especially since the entire station is kept alive due to her existence in the region!
Source: TheAtlantic.com / Linda Poon
Photo credit: John Gillespie / uniquedesign52
