Photo= the newly designed uniform for JR-West's foreign staff

JR-West will expand its foreign staff to assist foreign tourists visiting Japan during the autumn sightseeing season. In addition to staff members being placed at Saga-Arashiyama Station from November, foreign staff will be temporarily increased at Kyoto Station. The staff uniforms have been redesigned recently to be more noticeable.

Foreign staff use three languages, Japanese, English and Chinese, to carry out transfer announcements, ticket sales and other services. In Kyoto Prefecture, they have been placed in Kyoto and Inari Stations.

One foreign staff member will be newly assigned to Saga-Arashiyama Station, which handles many foreign passengers. Prior to that, two staff members will be posted to Osaka Station, and one to JR-Namba Station respectively from October.

Although Kyoto Station is always staffed by five foreign employees, the team will be expanded to seven during November, as the number of foreign tourists is expected to increase rapidly. The color of the staff uniform has been changed from conventional black to brown since September.

The number of stations equipped with tablet terminals for simultaneous translation guidance service has been also increased to 20, including Kyoto, Kameoka, Tofukuji, Inari, Uji, Hikone and other stations to smoothen guidance.