handled 2.68 million passengers during a one-year period through December 3 of 2011 (except March 11 through April 28 when services were suspended due to effects of the Disaster.) The number of passengers per day stood at 9,200, which was up approximately 20% over a year ago when the section was serviced with conventional trains. Passengers in September rose 34% over a year ago and positive effects were noted as the month saw a 15% increase of visitors to 34 tourist facilities in Aomori Prefecture. "Hayabusa" is expected to raise its maximum speed to 320 km by the end of fiscal 2012 and to travel between Tokyo and Shin-Aomori in about three hours and five minutes in the fastest case.

☑ Changes in total number of overnight guests (mainly for sightseeing purposes) in Aomori Pref.

Source : Developed from “Statistical Survey of Overnight Trips” (covering facilities, where more than 50 % of the guests stay for sightseeing purposes, that have 10 or more employees) of Japan Tourism Agency

### 3. Developments leading to the reconstruction of Sanriku Railway

Sanriku Railway servicing the coastal areas of Iwate Prefecture was severely damaged by the Disaster and services are interrupted for two thirds of the total distance of approximately 108 km. In the sections where services were resumed early, Sanriku Railway Co., (a third-sector entity with capital infusion from Iwate Prefecture, etc.), has been running their trains, dubbing them the “recovery support train.” The Company made the ride free during March last year, has offered fare discounts since April, and continues to serve as a “means of transportation for local people” but their monthly revenue has dropped to ¥7-8 million, which is approximately one fourth of the pre-Disaster level.

However, sales of goods of the Sanriku Railway are rising. In June 2011, they introduced “Senbei (rice cracker) bound to sprout”, a product praying for early recovery. They were overwhelmed with orders from all over Japan and had difficulty keeping up with production. In August 2011, they cut rails swept by tsunami into pieces of 10 cm and 5 cm, dubbed them as “Rails praying for recovery” and made 200 pieces of them available for limited sale at unit prices of ¥50,000 and ¥30,000 respectively. Again, with orders to support the railway company received from all over Japan, they were sold out in a single day.

Furthermore, tours around the disaster areas launched in May 2011, in which employees of the Company act as guides, are very popular and through February of 2012, approximately 100 groups with a total of 1,500 people participated.

Rail praying for recovery Source: Sanriku Railway Co.

In the meantime, the Tohoku District Transport Bureau, in cooperation with the Tohoku Railway Association (comprising of 20 operators of private railways, third-sector railways, subways, etc., in the Tohoku region), has held a number of supporting events under the title of "Support campaign for recovery of local railways of Tohoku" such as "Cheer up, railways in the Sanriku area!" and "Cheer up, railways in Tohoku! Relay photo Exhibition" as well as setting up a special booth for selling goods of the Sanriku Railway. The purpose is to provide help to such local railways as the Sanriku Railway suffering from the decline in visiting tourists due to harmful rumors and other reasons even though they resumed operations, and to promote the utilization of their services.

With subsidies to cover recovery expenses included in the third supplemental budget for fiscal 2011 and in the fiscal 2012 budget, full-scale recovery projects were started in November 2011 and services will be resumed in stages, starting with sections where recovery projects are completed and ultimately the services will be resumed throughout all the lines around April of 2014.