Bullet Trains Used For Fresh Seafood Delivery
Seafood dealers in Hokkaido, northern Japan, have begun using Shinkansen bullet trains to deliver to the Tokyo area hundreds of kilometers away.
Railway firms JR Hokkaido and JR East on Thursday started a project for using such trains to send fresh seafood from southern Hokkaido to the capital area.
A bullet train carrying local delicacies such as botan shrimp and whelk left Shin-Hakodate-Hokuto Station around 11 a.m. for Tokyo. The products were delivered to restaurants and shops around the capital in the afternoon.
JR officials say the trains will carry Hokkaido seafood around 250 days a year.
They say the method is less susceptible to weather than air delivery.
A JR East official says the firm hopes to use the trains effectively by having more businesses take part in the service.
Seafood firms in southern Hokkaido are welcoming the project, as the coronavirus pandemic has hit their sales and made air transport difficult.
Konishi Kazuto runs a fish shop in Hakodate. He packed 20 kilograms of seafood, including fresh flounder and live shrimp, to send by bullet train.
Konishi says it's nice to be able to do same-day delivery of fresh seafood to Tokyo by train when flights have been cut due to the pandemic. He also says the trains don't shake much, so they can be used to send live fish or those prone to damage.