page_title: Nippon Sharyo
section_title: Wartime involvement
hierarchical_section_title: Nippon Sharyo / Wartime involvement
context_page_description: Nippon Sharyo, Ltd., formed in 1896, is a major rolling stock manufacturer based in Nagoya, Japan. In 1996, it abbreviated its name to "日本車両" Nippon Sharyō. Its shortest abbreviation is Nissha "日車". It was a listed company on Nikkei 225 until 2004. It is listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange and Nagoya Stock Exchange as ticker 7102. In 2008, Central Japan Railway Company became the majority shareholder of the financially struggling Nippon Sharyo making the firm a "consolidated subsidiary" of JR Central. In July 2012 Nippon Sharyo USA started production in their new facility in Rochelle, Illinois. The facility closed at the end of October 2018 due to a lack of orders.
context_section_description: Nippon Sharyo, in 1936, built the JNR Class C56 steam locomotive number C56 31, which was used in 1943 to open the infamous Thai-Burma Railway, as stylized in the movie The Bridge Over the River Kwai, built by over 100,000 Allied POW and other slave labourers. This restored steam engine now sits in the foyer of the Yasukuni War Museum in Tokyo. Japanese veterans groups raised funds to return the locomotive from Burma to Japan in 1979.
  During World War II, Nippon Sharyo, like many major Japanese companies, drew upon prisoner of war labour to maintain war production. The POW camp at Narumi provided Allied POW forced labour for Nippon Sharyo.
caption: Nippon Sharyo-built C56 31 preserved at Yasukuni War Museum in Tokyo
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