Photo= Posted English information boards at Kyoto Municipal Transportation Bureau’s City Bus and Subway information office (Shimogyo Ward, Kyoto)

Responding to the influx of foreign tourists into Kyoto, the installation of staff and facilities for foreign languages is moving forward at Kyoto Station, the hub station for multiple railways in Shimogyo Ward, Kyoto. Each railway company is energetically participating, saying, "We would like foreign tourists to feel comfortable and have pleasant memories at the gateway to Kyoto."

In the spring of last year, JR-West introduced one staff member for foreign language visitor information, then increased the staff to four last November. They are placed at the Central Gate or on the arrival and departure platform for the Kansai-Airport Express, "HARUKA", to provide services in English, Chinese and other languages. Also, they offer a warning on the Nara Line platform not to take rapid trains because only local trains stop at Inari Station, the nearest station to Fushimi Inari Taisha Shrine, in Fushimi Ward, Kyoto, which is very popular among foreigners.

The station map for locating platforms has been designed to be easily understood by foreign tourists. For example, Nara Line is indicated along with famous sightseeing spots like "Inari." A video is shown next to the automatic ticket vending machines to explain how to buy tickets, while panels posted in the bathrooms describe how to use toilets.

Kazuyoshi Yamamoto, station manager, says, "If the number of foreign tourists continues to increase in the future, we would like to consider more improvements."

Kintetsu Corporation has placed staff members who can speak English or Chinese at ticket gates from February. The station is equipped with tablets with speech translation software for the world's 90 languages and special telephones that connect to interpretation firms. Takehiko Kuwahara, a station manager, has thought hard on this, saying, "Questions are becoming increasingly specific, such as whether or not we offer cheap and convenient special tickets. We want to be able to quickly respond to them."

An English information board, directing visitors to JR's ticket booths or the bus stops for the City bus, has been placed at the City Bus and Subway's Information Office near the exit of the City Subway platforms. This is because inquiries from foreigners have been increasing since JR-West closed its "Green Window" or ticket booth last year.

Kyoto Municipal Transportation Bureau is planning to prepare a board which enables communication in English or Chinese by pointing a finger. The Bureau is going to sequentially develop a multilingual system.