Japanese Railway Pleads With Photographers to Stop Being Dangerously Dumb

Some photographers love taking pictures of trains. In many cases, that is fine. However, in Japan, this passion can go too far. Beyond “menacing society,” Japanese train photographers, known as “toritetsu,” are engaging in increasingly dangerous behaviors to get the best shots, and railway companies are working hard to educate and protect photographers from themselves.

As reported by Traicy, a Japanese website focused on transportation news, East Japan Railway Company (JR East) announced today that it is launching a new public awareness campaign focused on warning photographers about dangerous behavior on station platforms.

While JR East’s new campaign includes cute illustrations of photographers, depicted as birds, doing things like standing on ladders on platforms, stepping in front of trains, taking selfies on accessible surfaces for visually impaired people, and hitting electrical wires with their cameras, the behaviors on display — which are feel specific enough to be examples of actual actions — are perilous and could undoubtedly result in people getting seriously hurt or killed.

The poster, primarily in Japanese, notes that “nuisance photography is on the rise” in Japan and adds that any dangerous or illegal behavior or abuse of station staff will be dealt with in cooperation with the police.

A recent Facebook post by Japan Station, a website focused on Japanese transportation, offers a startling example of the dangerous behavior some toritetsu engage in when trying to photograph trains.

In the video above, photographers at Hankyu Jūsō Station in Osaka were seen with their cameras on active train tracks, even after the safety barriers were deployed and warning bells were ringing loudly.

“A train was moments away. This is not dedication to a hobby; it is a dangerous, illegal nuisance that endangers not only the fans’ lives but also the lives of the station staff who had to rush out and confront them,” writes Japan Station.

“Rail safety is not a game. No photo or video is worth risking a collision or causing operational delays for thousands of commuters,” Japan Station concludes.

JR East notes that, even beyond the increasingly dangerous behavior of train photographers at stations and near tracks, photographers have also generally been inconveniencing train passengers through their attempts to take better train photos.

Image credits: Header photo licensed via Depositphotos.