Apple Shrine Installed at Hirosaki Station to Support Test-Takes; Special Message from Staff

The Yomiuri Shimbun

12:25 JST, January 10, 2024

HIROSAKI, Aomori — Ahead of the entrance exam season that will begin in early 2024, JR Hirosaki Tokatsu Center has set up an “Apple Shrine” at the passage connecting the east and west sides of Hirosaki Station to support students preparing for entrance exams.

A giant apple-shaped object fashioned as a shrine, with a torii gate, has been set inside the station. Students preparing for exams wish for success by writing on “ema” votive tablet stickers and attaching them to a board.

In the station, a video in which employees of the center express support for students is played. Conductors of the Ou and Gono train lines will play messages of support for test-takers taking the trains on Jan. 13 and 14, the dates of the common test for university admissions and the high school entrance exam. “We wish success for students who use the station,” said an official at East Japan Railway Co. The display will continue through the end of February.