Transportation
Japan Keeps This Train Station Running for Just One Regular Passenger
Trains here make only a few stops—when a lone high-school student leaves for school, and when class is over.
For years, there’s been just one passenger who regularly waits at the Kyu-Shirataki* train station, on the island of Hokkaido, Japan: A high-school girl, on her way to class. Trains stop there only a few times a day—once to pick up the girl for school and a few times after the school day is over.
It sounds like a Hayao Miyazaki film. But, according to CCTV News, Japan Railways—the group that operates the country’s railway network—has kept the underused station open for years for a good reason.