Japan Rails Have Millions of Obsessed Fans

 Train enthusiasts taking pictures of luxury charter train
service Cassiopeia, hauled by a class EF81 dual-voltage electric
locomotive (not seen in picture), near a railway track in Hasuda,
Saitama prefecture. Photo: AFP
Train enthusiasts taking pictures of luxury charter train service Cassiopeia, hauled by a class EF81 dual-voltage electric locomotive (not seen in picture), near a railway track in Hasuda, Saitama prefecture. Photo: AFP
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Japan Rails Have Millions of Obsessed Fans

 Train enthusiasts taking pictures of luxury charter train
service Cassiopeia, hauled by a class EF81 dual-voltage electric
locomotive (not seen in picture), near a railway track in Hasuda,
Saitama prefecture. Photo: AFP
Train enthusiasts taking pictures of luxury charter train service Cassiopeia, hauled by a class EF81 dual-voltage electric locomotive (not seen in picture), near a railway track in Hasuda, Saitama prefecture. Photo: AFP

Japan's railway system has long inspired envy around the world, with its famed punctuality, cutting-edge technology and meticulous timetables, according to AFP.

The community of train fans encompasses a diverse group of enthusiasts including those who enjoy poring over timetables, adore and even record the rumbling sound of passing trains, focus on the boxed meals sold at trains stations, and collect small train models. But a small group is gaining surprising notoriety.

Nationwide, there were an estimated five million train fans, from casual to hardcore, in 2015, according to Nobuaki Takada, a senior consultant at Tokyo-based firm NRI Social Information System Services. But the best-known group is a tribe dubbed toritetsu, who strive to take perfect photos of approaching trains.

They have been around for decades, but in recent years, reports of trespassing and even violence at stations have turned toritetsu into the bad boys of Japanese trainspotting. Some argue the out-of-control behavior isn't entirely new, citing frenzied farewells for retiring steam locomotives in the 1960s and '70s. But recent incidents, including the harassment of a photobombing cyclist and an assault that left a teen with a fractured skull last year, have some enthusiasts worried.

"The manners have distorted the image of train photographers for sure," lamented septuagenarian Masao Oda, who has been taking train photos for about 50 years. "People now point fingers at me," said Akira Takahashi, whose fondest obsession is the EF66 electric locomotive model.

"The negative image of us now prevails... I don't want to be lumped together with some of us who are causing trouble," he noted. Ryunosuke Takagai, 19, is a university student who has been known to get up at five in the morning to document his passion and sometimes takes on part-time factory work to finance his hobby.

"I love everything about trains -- their sound, their atmosphere. That moment when you succeed in capturing the train, you'd spent hours waiting for is truly fulfilling," he said.

The increasingly raucous behavior of some toritetsu may be driven by their pursuit of the perfect photo, according to Jun Umehara, a freelance railway journalist formerly at one of Japan's top train magazines.



Mexico Awaits New Response from Google on Dispute Over Gulf of Mexico Name Before Filing Lawsuit 

The Gulf of Mexico branded as Gulf of America is pictured through a magnifying glass on the Google Maps app on a computer in Bogota on February 11, 2025. (AFP)
The Gulf of Mexico branded as Gulf of America is pictured through a magnifying glass on the Google Maps app on a computer in Bogota on February 11, 2025. (AFP)
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Mexico Awaits New Response from Google on Dispute Over Gulf of Mexico Name Before Filing Lawsuit 

The Gulf of Mexico branded as Gulf of America is pictured through a magnifying glass on the Google Maps app on a computer in Bogota on February 11, 2025. (AFP)
The Gulf of Mexico branded as Gulf of America is pictured through a magnifying glass on the Google Maps app on a computer in Bogota on February 11, 2025. (AFP)

Mexico said Monday it is awaiting a new response from Google to its request that the tech company fully restore the name “Gulf of Mexico” to its Google Maps service before filing a lawsuit.

President Claudia Sheinbaum shared a letter addressed to her government from Cris Turner, Google’s vice president of government affairs and public policy. It says that Google will not change the policy it outlined after US President Donald Trump declared the body of water the Gulf of America.

“We will wait for Google’s response and if not, we will proceed to court,” Sheinbaum said Monday during a morning press briefing.

As it stands, the gulf appears in Google Maps as “Gulf of America” within the United States, as “Gulf of Mexico” within Mexico and “Gulf of Mexico” (Gulf of America) elsewhere. Turner in his letter said the company was using “Gulf of America” to follow “longstanding maps policies impartially and consistently across all regions” and that the company was willing to meet in person with the Mexican government.

“While international treaties and conventions are not intended to regulate how private mapping providers represent geographic features, it is our consistent policy to consult multiple authoritative sources to provide the most up to date and accurate representation of the world,” he wrote.

Mexico has argued that the mapping policy violates Mexican sovereignty because the US only has jurisdiction over around 46% of the Gulf. The rest is controlled by Mexico, which controls 49% and Cuba, which controls around 5%. The name “Gulf of Mexico” dates back to 1607 and is recognized by the United Nations.

In response to Google's letter, Mexican authorities said they would take legal action, writing that “under no circumstance will Mexico accept the renaming of a geographic zone within its own territory and under its jurisdiction.”

The renaming of the body of water by Trump has flared tensions between Mexico and the US at a pivotal time for the neighboring allies.

Sheinbaum has had to walk a fine line with Trump amid threats of tariffs and Mexico and other Latin American countries have braced themselves for promised mass deportations, the brunt of which has still not been felt.

Along with the legal threat to Google, the Mexican president also announced Monday that Mexico and the US would hold high-level meetings this week on trade and security in an effort to maintain a “long-term plan of collaboration” between the two countries.

It's the latest round of talks between the two countries in which Mexico hopes to hold off a larger geopolitical crisis.