HARIMAYABASHI STOP (KOCHI)

Keeping life at the crossroads

Photos by Yomiuri Shimbun Photographer Yoshikazu Okunishi

By Kazuhiro Katayama

Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writer

There is a well-known folk song called Yosakoibushi that tells of a Buddhist monk buying an ornamental hairpin at a shop near Kochi's Harimayabashi bridge.

The bridge was erected during the Edo period (1603-1867) and is now the starting point for a shopping arcade.

Tosa Electric Railway streetcars, which the locals affectionally call "toden" run each direction of the compass, converging at Harimayabashi crossing.

Kazuo Hasegawa,73, is owner of the almost 200-year-old Warajiya, a coral dealer near the bridge. Upon moving to Tokyo following World War II to attend university, he was taken aback when he discovered that Tokyoites called the electric railcars toden as well.

The coincidence led to Hasegawa mistaking that streetcars were known by the same nickname all around the country.

Tosa Electric Railway's streetcar service, which started in 1904, is the oldest one still in service. Covering a distance of 25.3 kilometers, it also is the longest streetcar line in the country.

The line is particularly popular among train-spotters as it incorporates retired tram cars from European services and from elsewhere in Japan.

Yet despite its glorious history, an increasing number of cars, an exodus to the suburbs and the relocation of large shops and movie theaters have led to a decreasing number of passengers.

One possible solution put forward is the "park and ride" system, which would make it possible for people to park their cars in the suburbs and take the streetcar into town.

A 150-car lot near the Museum of Art, Kochi, was constructed in cooperation with the national and local governments.

"With the small number of buses running [to the museum], the streetcar service is more convenient, plus it doesn't get caught up in traffic," said Yasuko Kawakami, 30, who rode on a streetcar for the first time in Kochi. Coming from outside the prefecture, she had no prior knowledge of the service and was impressed by its punctuality.

Environmentally friendly and vital to alleviate traffic congestion, some local governments elsewhere are also now considering the introduction of streetcar services.