I often take the Keio-Inokashira line, but I haven't seen the tanuki (Japanese raccoon dog) family at Shindaita station lately. I wonder where they are now. They may have moved, or staying inside the drain beside the track due to the cold winter. You may have no idea what I'm talking about, do you? If so, please review my post in September last year.
Instead of the topic of the animals, I'm going to show you a railway topic as usual. Keio Electric Railway recently operates trains on the Inokashira line with special round plates celebrating New Year on the front. They're trainset 1757 and 1773 of the EMU 1000 series. The first sunrise of the year and the kadomatsu (the New Year's decorative pine trees) are depicted on the plate. It's Keio's annual event, but I again realized that the new year has begun after looking the celebrating plates. The meaning of the word on the plate is "New Year's greetings".
Incidentally, Keio recently announced a new timetable on the Inokashira line starting March 18th. According to the news release, less trains will be running than the present timetable specifically in the night. As you may know, the number of the railway passengers has been decreasing since the spreading of COVID-19. Many office workers and students use the online meeting systems at home instead of going to their offices and schools. Although it's getting back to normal, the period of hardship continues for railway companies even in the urban areas.
