Hiroshima: Stationmaster Protects Remote Station Filled with ‘Good Luck’ and ‘Human Connections’

FUCHU, Hiroshima — A single-car KiHa 120 series diesel train traveling on the JR Fukuen Line whistled through the Chugoku Mountains as it entered the valley upstream of the Ashida River. After passing through a six-kilometer tunnel in the mountains along the Hattabara Dam, a village suddenly spread out before my eyes. I got off at Bingo-Yano Station, the fifth stop from Fuchu Station.