JR Shinkansen service has finally resumed on April 29th for the first time since the March 11th earthquake. The reopening of our major lifeline was much celebrated all over Tohoku region. We surely hope that it will speed the recovery in the disaster-stricken areas!
Akita Shinkansen Komachi Resumed on April 29th!
April 29th marked a very special day. Japan Railway workers have been focusing on fixing the breakage of railways and stations in the Tohoku region. Initially, the Shinkansen (Bullet Train) service was presumed to recover no earlier than summer. However, in March, the company announced its scheduled reopening date as April 30th. That was certainly great news for all of us! What was more impressive was that, shortly after, they put the scheduled date forward as April 29th – even earlier than we all expected!
So finally, our major transportation made a come-back before the Golden Week (April 29th- May 8th)! We were able to welcome travelers in the cherry blossoms week !
At Tazawako Station, we welcomed the arriving passengers in celebratory event! Despite of the last-minute notice, more than 50 local association members had gathered at the station. We had drums and flute performance by Tazawako Ryujin Daiko!
Everyone waited for the first arriving Komachi with smiles! We shared the joy on this special day!
The train's approach was announced; we could hardly contain our excitement!
We remained calm but with lots of smiles!
Here is a video of how we welcomed the arriving guests! Although only few passengers were expected to arrive on this particular train (it left Tokyo past 6 a.m.), many local people gathered at the Station just to express the joy on the resumed Shinkansen service!
Perhaps the excitement was even more since there was a community project to celebrate the reopening of the Shinkansen line. We followed how other people were celebrating by following updates on twitter (#komachi115).
We also welcomed the arriving guests on later trains and sent off the departing guests: “Welcome home” and “Come Again” to our beautiful Tazawako!
What a memorable day!
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