Multilingual Alerts, Pictograms Proposed after Foreigner Accident

Tokyo, April 23 (Jiji Press)--A Japanese transport ministry affiliate on Thursday proposed the introduction of multi-language warnings and pictograms, after a foreign tourist was hit and killed by a train last August.

According to a report on the accident released by the Japan Transport Safety Board the same day, a two-car train of Kyushu Railway Co., or JR Kyushu, hit the tourist, a 55-year-old woman from Taiwan, while traveling between Kamiarita and Arita stations on the Sasebo line in the southwestern Japan prefecture of Saga on the afternoon of Aug. 13, 2025.

The accident occurred at a Class 3 railroad crossing, which is equipped with alarms but not barriers, and is located near Sueyama Shrine, a popular tourist spot.

The train was running at a speed of about 50 kilometers per hour. Its driver noticed the woman some 86 meters before the crossing and applied the emergency brake, but the train could not avoid hitting her.

The woman, who was visiting Japan with acquaintances, heard an alarm from the crossing warning of the train’s approach but stood holding her smartphone beside the tracks, with her back against the train, apparently to take a selfie. She did not respond to the train’s horn.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]