Timetable Day

What Is Timetable Day?

October 5 is "Timetable Day" in Japan. On October 5, 1894 (Meiji 27), the publisher Koin Shinshisha released Kisha Kisen Ryoko Annai (Train and Steamship Travel Guide), regarded as Japan's first full-fledged monthly timetable. It gathered train and steamship schedules that had previously been scattered across separate railway companies into a single volume, so that anyone could plan a trip.

The Background of the First Timetable

About 20 years had passed since Japan's first railway opened between Shinbashi and Yokohama in 1872. By the 1890s, private railways were opening one after another and the network was expanding rapidly.

• Encouraged by Fukuzawa Yukichi: The publisher, Tezuka Takemasa, was a student of Fukuzawa Yukichi and is said to have launched the timetable at Fukuzawa's suggestion. It is also said to have been modeled on Britain's Bradshaw timetables.
• More than times and fares: Besides departure times and fares, it included guides to sights along the lines and travel essays, making it enjoyable reading as well.

How Timetables Have Changed

Meiji-era timetables were built around tables of station names and times. Later, large national timetables and handy pocket editions appeared, and it became possible to look up trains across the whole country in one book. Route-search apps are now the norm, but printed timetables remain popular with rail fans and travelers.

• Clever symbols: Marks such as "レ" for stations a train passes without stopping have long been used to fit huge amounts of information onto limited pages.
• Index maps: The route map at the front, used to find the right page for each line, is another long-standing feature.

Timetable Trivia

• Where "daiya" comes from: In Japan, a train schedule is called a "daiya," short for "diagram" - a chart with time on one axis and stations on the other, with each train drawn as a diagonal line.
• Armchair travel: Planning imaginary trips by leafing through a timetable, without actually going anywhere, is a classic pastime among Japanese rail fans.
• Real-time information: Today, apps show delays and crowding, so timetables have grown from "fixed times to look up" into "what is happening right now."
• Punctuality: Japanese railways' habit of running on schedule regularly draws attention from overseas.

Ideas for Timetable Day

• Plan the route for your next trip or business trip with a printed timetable instead of an app, and enjoy piecing the connections together yourself.
• Write out your own day like a timetable to see where your time actually goes.
• Check the first and last train times on the lines you use every day - useful in an emergency.

Something to Remember on Timetable Day

October 5 is a day to look back on the effort that brought scattered schedules together in one book so that anyone could plan a journey. Organizing information and presenting it clearly is still a basic of good work today. Why not take a moment to review your own schedule and get ready for the autumn season?