34 Japan Railway & Transport Review 22 • December 1999

Japanese Railway Posters

Feature

Copyright © 1999 EJRCF. All rights reserved.

Railway Posters—Illuminating the Role of the Railwaysin Promoting Social and Economic Development in Japan

Ian Smith

Introduction

There is little dispute about the role playedby the railways, both national and private,in the economic and social developmentof Japan. This article seeks to reflect thatrole through the significance of the railwayposters published by Japan’s railwaycompanies over the past century. Postershave been chosen as the medium becausethey do not just communicate commercialmessages, but transcend their marketingroles by encapsulating entire social epochs.Thus, while they seemed, at the time of theirissue, to be simply advertisements designedto tempt the public to use trains, railwayposters can now be seen as a reflection ofimportant economic and social trends.Successful posters issued by the JapaneseNational Railway (JNR) and by the manyprivate railway companies have gonebeyond their original short-term purpose,and have been able to represent majorchanges in Japanese society and, thereby,to show the contribution made by therailways to the country’s economic growth.Of course, it was not the prime purpose ofadvertising posters to be decorative norartistic, but rather to communicate a directcommercial message. However, the best ofthe genre have succeeded in combiningcommunication with artistic value, andrailway posters in particular have thusillustrated many of the significantdevelopments in Japan’s economic andsocial history through the 20th century.

Development ofRailway Network

This article describes some of the bestexamples of the considerable number ofJapanese rai lway posters , whichdemonstrate the importance of the railwaysin contributing to the nation’s economicand social development. The postersselected are in broadly chronological ordermatching the development of the Japanese

railway system as follows:• Establishment of government and

private railway system, 1872–1905;nationalization of trunk lines andformation of private commuter railwaycompanies, 1906/7–1920s.

• Development of government railwaysnetwork (passenger & freight); growthof private companies, and formationof first subways, 1920s–1940s.

• Establishment of JNR; formation ofshinkansen network, and diversificationof private railway companies into non-railway operations 1949–1987.

• Privatization of JNR with establishmentof JR group of companies, andcontinuing development of privaterailway companies 1987–1999.

Early Railway Posters

The earliest posters show the significanceof the speeding up of rail services,

contributing both to the nation’s economicgrowth and social life. The governmentrailway example (Fig. 1) is a brilliantevocation of speed, the artist—SatomiMunetsugu—provides a classic impressionof a train (although unseen) speedingthrough the Japanese countryside. Thisposter was commissioned by the Board ofTourist Industry (an external department ofthe then Ministry of Railways) and doubtlessencouraged many foreign tourists andJapanese families to use the governmentrailways to travel within Japan.The early private railway company poster(Fig. 2) advertises the opening of theelectrified main line from Tobu Railway’sterminus in Asakusa, Tokyo, to Isesaki.Again the emphasis is on attracting leisuretravel, but this example of the provisionof faster services also heralded thedevelopment of what was to become ahighly significant factor in private railwayoperations—commuter services linked tothe building of ‘new town’ housing.

Figure 1 Japanese GovernmentRailways 1937

Figure 2 Tobu Railway LineElectrification 1927

35Japan Railway & Transport Review 22 • December 1999Copyright © 1999 EJRCF. All rights reserved.

Figure 3 Nagoya Railroad Winter Travel Figure 4 Mikawa Railway Summer Travel

Leisure Travel

The nationalization of private railways in1906/7 divided the network into twocategories, government railways trunklines, and local short-haul privatecompanies. The latter group were adept atmaking the most of their local quasi-monopolies by developing a range ofservices that complemented their railwayoperations. These included retail stores atthe main stations and, as alreadymentioned, provision of low-cost suburbanhousing for commuters travelling by rail towork in major cities.The private companies were also quick toexploit their markets in developing servicesto accommodate the growing demand forleisure travel. Two seasonal examplesillustrated this trend—Fig. 3 shows NagoyaRailroad’s promotion of winter sport traveland Fig.4 shows Mikawa Railway’s (part oftoday’s Nagoya Railroad) promotion ofsummer travel on their lines to leisurecentres in their operations area (Mikawa isnow east Aichi Prefecture). These twoposters both communicate a simple, clearmessage of the benefits of rail for leisure

travel. The poster campaigns had a dualeffect of benefiting the railway companiesby increasing passenger volume and ofpromoting the development of holidayareas that they served. Despite the growthof domestic air travel (and car ownership),the ‘partnership’ between the railways andthe main Japanese vacation centres remainsa potent force in the country’s leisuremarkets.

Subways

Complementing the growth of ‘rural’le i sure- re la ted ra i lway serv ices ,communicated through the disseminationof posters as the prime marketing tool, wasthe establishment of inner city undergroundsystems for urban travellers. The Tokyosubway sys tem p ioneered suchdevelopments with the opening of the initialAsakusa–Ueno section of today’s GinzaLine in 1927, a further extension toShimbashi in 1934 by the private TokyoUnderground Railway, and the completionof the line under Tokyo—a breathtakingengineering accomplishment—in 1939.Fig. 5 celebrates 70 years of operation of

Figure 5 Celebrating Seventy Years ofthe Ginza Line

the Ginza Line and incorporates the originalposter advertising the opening of the firstsection from Asakusa to Ueno. Accordingto the poster, the Tokyoites appeared tohave dressed up for the opening!

36 Japan Railway & Transport Review 22 • December 1999

Japanese Railway Posters

Copyright © 1999 EJRCF. All rights reserved.

In 1941, Tokyo’s subway operations weretransferred to the Teito Rapid TransitAuthority, a public corporation knownalso as ‘Eidan’. Figure 6 illustrates afurther development of the Eidancommemorating the 1954 opening ofPhase 1 of the Marunouchi Line fromIkebukuro to Ochanomizu. Again, itseems that it was very stylish Japaneseladies who planned to take the subway,the railway companies clearly intendingto make subway travel synonymous withcontemporary fashion.The final Eidan poster in this selection(Fig. 7) confirms that poster art is not deadas far as the subway is concerned. Datingfrom the 1990s, this poster shows thetemples that can be visited at New Yearusing the Eidan network. It depictshatsumode, the first New Year’s visit to atemple and an important social custom;although younger than the womendepicted in the Marunouchi Line poster,the children in this modern poster are noless stylish than their predecessors.

Posters in the Modern Era

In an era of rapid technological changewith TV, computers, and the Internet, onewould guess that a simple and old-fashioned advertising medium such asrailway posters would go the way of thedinosaurs and disappear completely.However, railway posters have notdisappeared, as a stroll through any JR,private or subway station will attest.Further evidence that the poster remainsa powerful medium by which railwaycompanies communicate with theircustomer base comes from the post-JNRprivatization period from both the JRgroup of companies and their privatecounterparts. The style theme is continuedin the Tobu Railway poster (Fig. 8)showing a modern fashionable ladyplanning a trip to a scenic avenue ofJapanese cedar trees. Apparently moremundane is the contemporaneous Tobuposter (Fig. 9) showing the then newSPACIA train, the message being ‘The

Weight of G ’—G signifying ‘welldesigned’ products approved by theMinistry of International Trade andIndustry (MITI). However, the good designtheme also allows us to categorize thisrecent poster under communication of acommercial objective—travel by TobuRailway—through a stylish message.The modern JR posters are no lesssuccessful in combining commercialmessages with artistic presentation, asseen in Fig. 10, the Full Moon Pass. Whileliving in Japan, my wife and I travelledthroughout Japan using a Full Moon Passvisiting amongst many other places, Otaruin Hokkaido, the location of this poster.The final modern JR poster (Fig. 11)contains a message that, more than anyother, symbolizes the enduring spirit ofJapan—cherry blossom viewing. JR Eastexhorts us to ‘Join up under the cherryblossoms!’, an invitation made all themore alluring by the view of the cherrytrees in full bloom.

Figure 8 ‘Fantasy Theatre’—Tobu Railway 1991

Figure 6 The Opening of theMarunouchi Line 1954

Figure 7 EIDAN New Year CelebrationTravel

37Japan Railway & Transport Review 22 • December 1999Copyright © 1999 EJRCF. All rights reserved.

Ian Smith

Dr Smith is a lecturer in the Business School of Napier University, Edinburgh. His main teaching

subjects are International Business and Business Ethics, and he retains a research interest in rail

transport. In the early 1990s, he spent 2 years carrying out transport research as a Visiting Scholar at

Daito Bunka University, and as Ishikawa Research Fellow of the Institute of Transport Statistics, both

in Tokyo. He has published articles in a number of Japanese journals, including past issues of JRTR.

Conclusion

The continued use of posters by nationaland private railways right from the earliestdays, through the JNR era and on into theJR era pays testament to the straightforward,visual impact of the railway poster as apowerful form of communication. Longmay these posters continue their prime rolein railway marketing campaigns, tostimulate our imagination with the delightsof rail travel, and to provide decorativelas t ing images o f Japan and i t scomprehensive railway system. After all,the continuing success of railway postersproves that good art is good for the businessof running railway companies. �

Figure 9 SPACIA—‘The Weight of G’ 1990

Figure 10 ‘The Full Moon Pass’—JR East

Figure 11 Cherry Blossom Viewing—JR East

Figure Notes:Fig. 1

Original in the collection of Musashino Art University

Museum & Library

Figs. 2, 8 and 9

Originals in the collection of Tobu Railway

Figs. 3 and 4

Originals in the collection of Nagoya Railroad Co.,

Ltd.

Figs 5, 6 and 7

Originals in the collection of The Subway Museum

(Chikatetsu Hakubutsukan), Tokyo

Figs. 10 and 11

Originals in the collection of JR East

Acknowledgements:The author is very grateful to have been able to access

the above mentioned collections, and to reproduce

the images selected. Acknowledgement is also made

to Imashiro Tomoki for his invaluable help in tracking

down the main collections of Japanese railway posters,

and for photographing a substantial number for use

in future publications.

Note:The family name is given first in Japanese names in

this article.