“Matsuyama” Shōmei visits Matsuyama Station – 32 Taiwanese and Japanese railway stations share the same name
▲ Matsuyama Shōmei, the One-Day Station Master, meets with the station masters of both Taipei’s Matsuyama Station and MRT Matsuyama Station on the 25th, creating a fun scene of “three Matsuyama station masters.” (Photo / Reporter Chen Ruizhong, the same below)
Reporter Chen Ruizhong / Taipei report
Many people traveling in Japan notice that there are also stations named Matsuyama, Itabashi, and others in Japan. In fact, Taiwan and Japan share 32 railway stations with identical names, bearing witness to the history and connection between the two places. The Tourism Bureau of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications, the Taiwan Railways Administration, the Japan Tourism Agency, the Japan Tourism Promotion Agency, and the Japan Association of Travel Agents have also specially themed an event around these homonymous stations, launching the “32 Homonymous Station Masters One-Day Experience” campaign in Japan. A total of 32 lucky Japanese travelers were selected to visit Taiwan from November 24 to 27 for the “One-Day Station Master” experience.
▲ Matsuyama Station in Ehime Prefecture, Japan. (Photo / From Wikimedia Commons)
This “One-Day Station Master” experience was conducted via a lottery system, selecting Japanese participants whose surnames or given names matched those of the 32 stations. The delegation was led to Taiwan by Japan’s tourism goodwill ambassador, Kobayashi Sachiko. Among the group, you could find people with names matching their station—like Matsuyama Shōmei (Matsuyama Station), Itabashi Daekichi (Itabashi Station), and Tomioka Kimiko (Tomioka Station)—making for a delightful coincidence.
After arriving in Taiwan, the group was divided into six routes including Taipei–Yilan, Northern Taiwan, and Central Taiwan for the experience activities, ensuring each One-Day Station Master could visit a station that shares both their name and exists in both Taiwan and Japan.
%Nao Toshikane, representative of Banchō Station, and others visited Matsuyama Station today to experience the work of station staff.
Today, Matsuyama Shōmei, along with representatives from Itabashi, Nakazato, Kameyama, and Dali stations, visited Matsuyama Station. In addition to touring Matsuyama Station, MRT Matsuyama Station, and Ciyun Temple, Matsuyama Shōmei also took on the responsibility of being the “One-Day Station Master,” personally operating the 10:50 a.m. southbound Tzu-Chiang Limited Express departure from the platform.
Matsuyama Shōmei said he had not expected Taiwan’s Matsuyama Station to be larger in scale than the one in Japan, with facilities that were quite satisfactory. Moreover, the Matsuyama Stations in Japan and Taiwan became sister stations on October 13, 2013—a date that happened to be his birthday. These coincidences came as a great surprise.
▲ The jointly organized “Taiwan-Japan 32 Homonymous Stations Experience Activity” recruited 32 Japanese individuals whose names match those of the stations to serve as One-Day Station Masters in Taiwan.
The Tourism Bureau of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications also stated that under the resolution of the 2013 Taiwan-Japan Tourism Exchange Summit Forum on “Promoting Cooperation on Common Themes,” the two countries have been promoting and forging friendships through their “shared” tourism resources. Currently, the Pingxi Line and Enoshima Electric Railway (“Enoden”), as well as the Alishan Forest Railway and Iya Valley Railway, have signed cooperation agreements. Taipei 101 and Tokyo Skytree have also established a friendship agreement as tourist landmark icons, alongside collaborations between Yushan and Mount Fuji, and Yehliu Geopark and Akiyoshi-dai National Park. Now, the world’s only promotional campaign for Taiwan and Japan’s 32 homonymous stations has also been launched, aiming to enhance the quality and quantity of tourism exchanges between the two sides.
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