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The Yomiuri Shimbun A railway employee mans a ticket gate at JR Tottori Station on Feb. 10.
The Yomiuri Shimbun
16:12 JST, March 1, 2025
TOTTORI — So long, paper tickets of the past. Hello, IC cards of the future. Automated ticket gates will soon be installed at JR Tottori Station. Until now it has been the task of the station staff to accept riders’ tickets.
Railway fans who will miss the old way of tickets being stamped by staff have steadily visited the station, taking photos of the manned gate before it is replaced on March 15.
Tottori Station opened in 1907 and is a stop on the San-in and Imbi Lines. The station is also a stop for express trains to Okayama and Matsue. About 9,000 passengers use the station each day.
West Japan Railway Co. (JR West) has installed automated ticket gates that read Icoca IC cards at 10 more stations on the San-in Line between Tottori and Kurayoshi. The ticket gates there will also become automated starting March 15.
Tottori Station manager Shuji Ogawa, 48, joined JR West in 1999. He has fond memories of his first job at the station that saw him stamping and selling tickets for 1½ years.
Although the passengers’ convenience should be prioritized, Ogawa said, “I also feel lonely, like I’m losing my roots.”
It is rare for a major station in a prefectural capital to have manned ticket gates. The Shikoku Railway Co. has tickets stamped manually at Tokushima Station, while automated gates were introduced in Matsuyama Station in September.
