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The JR East railway museum in Omiya will be showing a pair of special exhibitions from 3/14 to 6/21. Titled "Two Starts", one will examine the Hokuriku Shinkansen, the other the Ueno Tokyo Line. The Hokuriku Shinkansen exhibition will feature 1/20 scale models of the E7/W7, details of the tunnels and bridges along the route, snowfall countermeasures, and past limited express and express trains that ran between Tokyo and the Hokuriku region. The Ueno Tokyo Line exhibition will focus on the building of the elevated portion of the route, including the building over the Tohoku Shinkansen, and the techniques involved given the limited time and space without disrupting existing services. Also past limited expresses that used this section, and Joban Line trains that once went as far as Yurakucho. Cab view videos will be featured. Normal museum entry fee of 1000 yen will allow access to these exhibits. http://news.mynavi.jp/news/2015/02/25/211/ http://www.railway-museum.jp/press/pdf/20150216_2015_hp.pdf

This Thursday the lead car of the first revenue service 0 Series trainset (1964) was moved out by road haulage from the now closed Osaka Transportation Museum. It will be cosmetically restored and then eventually put on display at the now under construction Kyoto Railway Museum, scheduled for opening in spring 2016. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GWZRaww63YY

In 2017, JR East will update and expand its Railway Museum near Omiya Station. It will be the museum's 10th anniversary, and 30th anniversary of the establishment of the company itself. Built south of the existing structure, the addition will raise the museum's total display space to 14,800 square meters, about 1.5 times its present size. There will be various themes including work, history, the future, and travel in the context of railways, in addition to the main hall's themes of rolling stock and science, presenting a variety of view points on the history of railways and people. The "work" themed area will include E5 and 400 series shinkansen rolling stock, as well as a new E5 simulator with a dramatic, high resolution panorama-sized screen. http://railf.jp/news/2014/11/06/173000.html

Hello, In my last trip to Japan I visited The Railway Museum of Saitama. It preserves a lot of material from JR East and the JNR privatization. Reminds me a lot the Cité du Train of Mulhouse (France) in the way all the material is exposed, but it's smaller and has less real trains. On the other hand, it has a huge HO gauge layout running a lot of trains, and seems more educational. I found it a must see spot for railway enthusiasts. The easiest way to arrive there from Tokyo is traveling to Omiya Station (there is a direct Shinkansen, 25 min.), and there you take the New Shuttle (not covered by JRPass, but cheap) and its first stop is in the museum. I had a lot of fun talking to the person in charge of the layout and rolling stock maintenance and viewing his workshop. If you want to see more photos I published a lot in my blog (http://www.clubncaldes.com/2014/05/the-railway-museum-tetsudou.html). Cheers, Dani