Have you ever been to Shikoku? Shikoku is an island full of nature, surrounded by peaceful seas. Today we are going to share our plan of utilizing the unstaffed stations in Shikoku.

Why did we choose the stations in Shikoku in the first place? 

This is a map showing how JR stations are distributed in Shikoku. How many of these stations do you think are unstaffed? So how many are there?   208 of 259 are unstaffed stations.

The unstaffed station rate in Shikoku exceeds 80%, which is the highest rate in Japan.

In terms of revenues, Shikoku is in an extremely difficult situation. 

Of all japan railway group companies, JR Hokkaido and JR Shikoku are in the red, with a deficit of 11. 4 billion yen last year.

I was born and raised in Kochi in the Shikoku island.
So, let me introduce our plan to save the railway industry in Shikoku from this situation. Yes, we have a plan.

The plan is named OhenRail.
It combines "railway” with "Ohenro".
Do you know what Ohenro is?

It is one of the famous pilgrimages in Japan.
It includes 88 official temples and numerous other sacred sites where the Buddhist priest Kūkai had lived and meditated during the 9th Century.
The entire route is about 1,200 kilometers long and it takes 50-60days, on foot, to complete all “88” temples. Ohenro gives us an opportunity to reflect on our lives and make them better.

Shikoku is the island with the fewest tourists in Japan out of the main four, but the number of foreign visitors who try Ohenro has increased about ten times in the last 10 years.So, they can potentially revitalize Shikoku tourism.
The plan aims to address the potential needs of foreign visitors.
In general, foreign visitors are more interested in religion than Japanese.

We expect tourists to come, inter alia, from Asian countries. 
It is because most foreign visitors to Shikoku have been to Japan more than a few times and more than 80% of repeat visitors to Japan are from Asian countries.
And as you know, there are many Buddhists in Asia.

Foreign pilgrims tend to face a number of problems in their Ohenro journey.
That is, problems in language, accommodation, local transport, and internet connection.

OhenRail allows us to solve these problems with new services and features, thus helping to increase the number of pilgrims and thereby reinvigorate unstaffed stations.
Today, we propose three key ideas for the plan.
Using stations as hostels for pilgrims, using them as an information hub at the same time, and lastly OhenRail pass.

The first key idea is station hostels.
Accommodation fees can be problematic for young people and foreign backpackers.
Compared to overseas pilgrimage hostels, hostels in Shikoku are often expensive at around 7,000 yen per night, and the number of hotels is not sufficiently many.
So, there are many people who have no choice but to sleep outdoors. How can we keep accommodation fees reasonable?

For example, on the pilgrimage of Compostela in Spain, which is a World Heritage Site, the government refurbished old buildings as hostels for pilgrims. There, they put a lot of simple beds in a large room like this picture to keep its cost down to about 10 euro per night.

Following this, our station hostels too, have minimalist services to minimize the costs.
The room is shared and no meals are included. There are few such simple and cheap hostels in Shikoku, so there will be demand not only from railway passengers but also from walking pilgrims.

The second key is to make unstaffed stations information centers for pilgrims to re-energize.

We set up footbaths, information boards, internet service and unattended stands.
Firstly, footbaths allow you to take some rest during the pilgrimage.

Many pilgrims are looking for opportunities to interact with locals, so this will be a good opportunity for communication.

Next, we set up information boards. The history, methods, and basic etiquette of Ohenro are displayed on them in multiple languages.
You get lots of information to make Ohenro more enjoyable, 
and you can use the internet as well.
Unstaffed stations thus serve as an information hub for Ohenro.
The last one is unattended stands. 
Selling local products at unattended stands ensures that there are some foods available even in areas where there are few stores.
General unattended stands are often like this photo, but considering security, it is better to put locker-like vending machines. 
With these services, more people will stop by at unstaffed stations.

The third  one is “OhenRail pass”.
It comes with three benefits.

The first is unlimited rides. You can take trains whenever you want to, within the designated course. In fact, only Kagawa Prefecture allows for electronic passes in Shikoku. 
Foreigners often do not have much change, and often have trouble with calculating fares, but using this Pass eliminates such concerns.

The second is a discount on admission fees. Presenting your pass will give you a discount on temple admission fees.

The third is the option to use rental bikes for free, which are especially convenient when the temple is far from the station,

For example, with a 4-day Pass, you can set up a course like this.

Here are sample details of a trip.
This is just a sample, so you can choose your own favorite temples.
Making different courses available, we can have repeat customers as well.

Now, by how much can we expect the number of visitors to increase?
This graph shows the number of foreign visitors of Kumano Kodo.
So, if foreigners come to Shikoku as much as Kumano Kodo by our OhenRail we can expect an increase of tens of thousands of foreign visitors.

In conclusion, let’s review the key ideas of OhenRail and how they work together.

The OhenRail pass will help people who want to do Ohenro by railway instead of walking, which will increase the overall number of people who try Ohenro.
Moreover, the quality of the Ohenro experience itself will be improved by introducing various services such as footbaths and hostels.
As a result, many tourists will gather at the unstaffed stations, and then the locals and volunteers who take care of the tourists will gather as well.

28 This is how our OhenRail will revitalize unstaffed stations in Shikoku.

Close your eyes and imagine the future of OhenRail stations.
Can you see the image of unstaffed stations in Shikoku with many people and diverse interactions? Let’s create an exciting future of stations in Shikoku together.Thank you.