Nanbu Jūkan

Company History: The Nanbu Jūkan Railway (南部縦貫鉄道線, Nanbu Jūkan Tetsudō-sen) was a railbus line in eastern Aomori Prefecture, Japan. Services on the railway began 1962 and ceased in 1997 due to financial hardship. It connected Noheji Station in the town of Noheji to Shichinohe Station in the town of Shichinohe.

The Nanbu Jūkan Railway was operated by the Nanbu Jūkan Company, a privately owned company. The majority of the railway facilities and tracks were owned by the company. The only exception to this was the section of the Tōhoku Main Line between Noheji Station and Nishichibiki Station that was shared between the company and the Japanese National Railways (later East Japan Railway Company (JR East)). The Nanbu Jūkan Railway originally shared the tracks free of charge, but the successor to Japanese National Railways began asking for compensation after that company was re-organized into the various JR companies.From Wikipedia

Brief History: Japan is an island nation in the Pacific Ocean with dense cities, imperial palaces, mountainous national parks and thousands of shrines and temples. Shinkansen bullet trains connect the main islands of Kyushu (with Okinawa's subtropical beaches), Honshu (home to Tokyo and Hiroshima’s atomic-bomb memorial) and Hokkaido (famous for skiing). Tokyo, the capital, is known for skyscrapers, shopping and pop culture.

Although legend has it that Japan was founded in 660BC, archaeologists agree that settlement in the Japanese archpelago dates back as far as 100,000 years. The Jomon Period (8000-c.300BC) is the earliest that has been studied. It is named after the 'jomon' or cord-marked pattern style of pottery of the period.