This year marks the 150th anniversary of the opening of Japan's railway system. The country’s first train ran along a 29-kilometre stretch between Shinbashi and Yokohama in 1872. The recently excavated Takanawa Embankment site near Takanawa Gateway Station is part of Japan’s first railway line and together with the former site of Shimbashi Station has been designated a National Historic Site.
This exhibition introduces the opening of Japan's railway system through historical documents, old artefacts and ukiyo-e prints. It also focuses on a number of people who were involved in the railway opening process such as politician Shigenobu Okuma, engineer Edmund Morel and intellectual Yukichi Fukuzawa.