Yamanote 100 Years

By Shibuya246 · · 1 min read · 7 photos · 4 comments

We Love Pure by Meiji Chocolate
We Love Pure by Meiji Chocolate

The Yamanote Line is currently celebrating 100 years since its naming. The original portion of the Yamanote Line was built in 1885 between Shinagawa and Akabane called the Shinagawa Line, passing through areas such as Tokyo station, Akihabara and Ueno.

The top part of the loop stretching between Ikebukuro and Tabata, completed in 1903 was called the Toshima line, 豊島線.

In 1909 after the line was turned into an electric one, both lines were merged and called the Yamanote Line.

In 1925 the line between Kanda and Akihabara was opened for the Yamanote Line and the loop was completed.

Yamanote Line 100 Years
Yamanote Line 100 Years

To celebrate the 100 years, JR has wrapped one of its trains in the original brown, 'chocolate' colors. I say chocolate because Meiji Chocolate has managed to feature its products on the trains wrap, which makes you wonder whether this is just really celebrating the 100 years or just an excuse to collect some more revenue through advertising.

The JR Poster explaining the special 100 Year Celebration Trains
The JR Poster explaining the special 100 Year Celebration Trains
The special wrapped Yamanote Line pulls in to the stationPhoto dataCameraCanon PowerShot G10Focal length6mmAperturef/2.8Shutter1/30sISO200Taken8 Sep 2009, 20:31
The special wrapped Yamanote Line pulls in to the station
Meiji chocolate actually tastes pretty good!
Meiji chocolate actually tastes pretty good!
I was not the only one taking photosPhoto dataCameraCanon PowerShot G10Focal length14mmAperturef/3.5Shutter1/20sISO200Taken8 Sep 2009, 20:30
I was not the only one taking photos
The Meiji Chocolate poster at the stationPhoto dataCameraCanon PowerShot G10Focal length6mmAperturef/2.8Shutter1/30sISO200Taken8 Sep 2009, 19:31
The Meiji Chocolate poster at the station

Someone has made a video and put in on YouTube also

4 comments

Comments are closed. These are from readers when the post was first published.

  1. xnnc

    Just strange to choose a chocolate brand for the 100 years celebration. We can see the advertisement more than the 100years mention.

  2. shibuya246

    Totally agree. Are we supposed to notice the 100 years or focus on the chocolate

  3. The Envoy

    Wow. I didn't know that the Japanese subway was THAT old.

  4. Tokyo Five

    I saw this on TV a few days and ago and decided to blog about it too... My post: http://tokyo5.wordpress.com/2009/09/10/100th-anniversary/