Entrance exam season is a stressful time for teens in Japan. Months of intense studying go into students’ preparations, and the tests themselves last several hours, making them a daunting challenge of one’s abilities to focus under pressure.
So it’s nice that the Yokkaichi Asunarou Railway company, based in the town of Yokkaichi, Mie Prefecture, wants examinees to have at least one less thing to worry about on the day of their test, and lets them ride for free.
On select days during entrance exam season all that examinees have to do is show their test registration card to the station staff, and they’ll be given a pass, free of charge, that they can use for a round-trip ride on the Yokkaichi Asunarou Railway Hachioji Line. The pass is officially called the Rail Pass with Included Prayer for Passing High School Entrance Exam, making it also a message of encouragement and good luck charm.
Yokkaichi Asunarou Railway has been handing out free rail passes to entrance exam takers since 2019 and distributes about 2,000 every year. For 2024, the first day for the passes was January 20, when roughly 650 teens sitting for the entrance exam at Yokkaichi’s private Kaisei High School received theirs. Passes were also given out on Kaisei’s second test day on January 26, as will be provided to those taking entrance exams at Mie prefectural public high schools on February 5 and 6 and March 11.
The kindhearted, generous gesture has been creating smiles and earning words of praise online as it’s begun attracting wider attention. In a practical sense, some have also said that giving examinees one more reason to remember to take their registration card with them when they leave the house on the big day is a big plus, and hopefully the morale boost from the little nicety will help relieve some of the stress of the situation and help test takers perform at their best.
Sources: Yokkaichi Asunarou Railway, IT Media, Bengoshi.com
Read more stories from SoraNews24.
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- External Link
- https://soranews24.com/2024/01/29/japanese-rail-company-lets-teens-ride-for-free-on-super-stressful-entrance-exam-days/
12 Comments
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didou
I think I saw the same picture of the article a long time ago
Roten
A nice gesture. I would be glad for seniors to be given free passes on Respect for the Aged day and for 18 year olds to be given passes on Coming of Age day.
Tell_me_bout_it
Would that not require hell of a lot of time to check IDs and verify? Commuters would be late for work
The Original Wing
I'm grateful for the reminders that there's good in the world, even if it's a small and simple thing like this.
shogun36
Maybe.................if both days weren't NATIONAL HOLIDAYS?
Otherwise, they could probably just tell either by the uniforms inability to move very well.
Or they would apply for a pass in advanced of the day?
Chico3
That's a great gesture and marketing idea.
kohakuebisu
Contrast this with Kitkat who treat entrance exams as a huge marketing opportunity to sell lots of bars to worried parents.
kohakuebisu
Contrast also with private schools who jack up entrance exam prices to extort money from parents giving their kids a fallback option if they don't get into their desired school. And public system schools who have exams on the same day or do not allow multiple applications, forcing kids to choose one school only and then however many private schools at X man yen per extrance exam.
There are plenty of folks making money off the kids, and its usually much more than a train ticket.
Chico3
It could be worse. They would jack up the application "processing" fees, too
Yubaru
How much does anyone want to bet that the female in the picture never studied for nor took any exam for entrance to college or university here.
Not to mention the guy behind her looks like he is probably old enough to be her dad!
lostrune2
That photo above is a stock photo - it's been used in many things of various subjects
(The people are adult actors/models)