JNR Unmarked Intermediate Cab Cars

[Kiha66]

While Japanese railways are well known for their versatility in being able to make up and split a train, I recently noticed a few cars which appear to have cabs but are not noted as such in their designation (no "ku"), nor do they seem to be documented being used in such a way.  Usually these are EMU intermediate coaches and usually are either diners or green cars which have a headlight, tail lights and what appears to be a window with wiper on the end face.  I've noticed this feature on the Kato 485 diner coaches and the 165 green car coaches.  Does anyone know more on this subject, and what these features would have been used for?

https://www.1999.co.jp/eng/image/10536234/20/3
https://itreni.net/jnrkeishikifoto/ec/ec485/ec4850/jnrsashi48119gr.jpg
https://itreni.net/jnrkeishikifoto/ec/ec485/ec4850/jnrsashi48120gr.jpg
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/12/JRC-Ts165-106.jpg
 

[railsquid]

Mainly for shunting partial formations.

 

Modern example:

 

 

I think the subject has come up here before.

[GDorsett]

I believe these are what's called a "shunting cab", which was also big in Australia. When EMD continued to build the streamlined Bulldog-nosed locomotives for Australia, they included said shunting cab at the back so the locomotive could be run in reverse for short distances. The cars in the above pictures aren't noted as as a cab unit because it's not a full cab. There is a set of basic controls that you stand up at. They're meant to move the car around the yard either alone or with, as railsquid said, partial car rakes. Technically, you could drive the train from there, but you'd be uncomfortable and you would not have a full instrument panel or all of the available controls.

And it'd be difficult to see, judging by the small window and not having windows on both sides.

[bikkuri bahn]

Poor quality clip, but here you can see a shunting cab in operation on the Tobu 1800 series. Location is the Minami Kurihashi Rolling Stock Depot. Railfan generated footage is rare because these movements are typically done within the confines of a depot. In this case stock needed to be split in order to fit the length of the indoor maintenance structure.

https://twitter.com/tj51006/status/966307001784414209