Niigata – East Japan Railway Co. on Wednesday invited the media to observe a test run of an autonomous bullet train in Niigata Prefecture as it eyes introducing trains without drivers in the future amid a labor shortage. During the test, conducted in the early hours of Wednesday, the 12-car bullet train ran without any manual intervention after a driver switched it to automatic mode. The E7-series train was piloted remotely from a control center. It was the first test in Japan of the autonomous operation of a bullet train already in commercial service. While the eventual goal is driverless trains, several drivers and other staff members were aboard the train during Wednesday's test to respond to any emergencies.

Tokyo stocks took a downturn Thursday on the back of the yen's appreciation and overseas market falls. The 225-issue Nikkei average of the Tokyo Stock Exchange shed 156.16 points, or 0.67 percent, to close at 23,319.37, after rising 20.64 points Wednesday. The Topix index of all first section issues closed down 5.95 points, or 0.36 percent, at 1,638.40, following a 3.51-point rise the previous day. The market got off to a weaker start and plunged deeper in the morning, with sentiment chilled by the yen's strengthening against the dollar and a drop in the U.S. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures in off-hours trading, brokers said. Bearish performances of Chinese and other Asian shares also weighed on Tokyo stocks throughout the afternoon session, they added.

Japanese railway companies are turning to artificial intelligence to help tackle potential problems for their shinkansen bullet trains caused by accumulations of snow. West Japan Railway Co. is developing an AI system to gauge the amount of snow attached to Hokuriku Shinkansen trains that cut through Niigata, Toyama and Ishikawa prefectures adjacent to the Sea of Japan. The railway operator currently decides how many personnel to deploy for snow clearance a day beforehand, based on information from meteorological data providers and past experience, but it is often not very accurate. AI will gather data from images of trains that have accumulated snow while traveling, study weather conditions and predict the number of personnel necessary for clearance work. Test operations have proved positive so far and the system is set for full introduction next winter.

NAGOYA – More and more unmanned cleaning robots have been introduced in Japan, mainly at public transportation facilities amid severe labor shortages. Faced with difficulties securing enough workers, Central Japan Railway Co. started using four robots this year to clean Nagoya Station and other locations, hoping that using the robots, expected to cover most of the necessary cleaning work, will help save on labor costs. In the wee hours, automated robots scrub the floors at Nagoya Station with water. In February, two robots joined 50 workers to do cleaning work. "We can reduce the cost of hiring and training," a JR Central official said.