100周年記念

On October 12th, the 「山手線」 (“Yamanote Train Line“) that connects 29 stations in Metropolitan Tokyo in a loop-line will turn 100 years old.

It takes a train on this line an hour to make the whole loop…but there are 「山手線」 (“Yamanote Line“) trains going in two directions, so the longest you could possibly need to spend on a ride on this line is about thirty-minutes or less.

All of the train lines in Japan are color-coded and the signs and trains for the 「山手線」 (“Yamanote Line“) are all colored light-green.

「山手線」の電車　(A "Yamanote Line" train)

But to celebrate it’s 100th anniversary, JR (the company that operates numerous train lines in Japan…including 「山手線」 (“Yamanote Line“)) has painted some of the normally light-green 「山手線」 (“Yamanote Line“) trains brown and decorated them with images of “Meiji Chocolate“.

The reason that some of the 「山手線」 (“Yamanote Line“) trains are decorated with images of Meiji Chocolate is because Meiji Chocolate will also be celebrating it’s 100th anniversary in a few years.

Meiji Chocolate

Anyways, if you’re in Tokyo and you want to see a 「山手線」 (“Yamanote Line“) train decorated like a Meiji Chocolate bar, they started running three days ago and will be running until 2009 December 4th.

Here’s a YouTube clip from the TV news program I saw about this campaign: