The Yomiuri Shimbun – December 16, 2015 – Hankyu Railway is operating trains adorned with pictures by manga artist Osamu Tezuka and illustrator Seizo Watase on the Takarazuka and Kobe lines. Each line is operating one decorated train.
The train on Takarazuka Line bears pictures of characters created by Tezuka, who grew up in Takarazuka, Hyogo Prefecture. Among the characters are Astro Boy and Black Jack. Pictures have been applied to the exterior of four cars of the eight-car train, which also sports photos of places of interest along the line, such as the cities of Takarazuka and Toyonaka, Osaka Prefecture. Aboard the train, passengers can watch special images of Tezuka characters on display monitors.
The Kobe Line train is adorned with Kobe-born Watase’s illustrations of Kobe Port Tower and other tourist spots along the line.
On the eve of the trains’ launch on Nov. 1, two tourism ambassadors for Takarazuka, both named Sapphire after Tezuka’s classic “Ribon no Kishi” (Princess Knight), showed up at Takarazuka Station to promote the Takarazuka Line service, saying the train would make people excited just by watching it.
The trains will be operated until the end of November in 2017.