Passenger Car, Commuter, JNR Series 12

History: The series 12 was a popular passenger coach design produced in Japan from the late 1960s through the 1980s. It was introduced in Japan in 1969. These were designed to be pulled by steam or diesel locomotives. They were built at the JR East Takasaki vehicle center. This design was updated several times during their production history. The Suhafu 12 was an example of a later production run.

Railroad/Company: JR East was incorporated on 1 April 1987 after being spun off from the government-run Japanese National Railways (JNR). The spin-off was nominally "privatization", as the company was actually a wholly owned subsidiary of the government-owned JNR Settlement Corporation for several years, and was not completely sold to the public until 2002.

Following the breakup, JR East ran the operations on former JNR lines in the Greater Tokyo Area, the Tohoku region, and surrounding areas. Its railway lines primarily serve Kanto and Tohoku regions, along with adjacent areas in Koshin'etsu region (Niigata, Nagano, Yamanashi) and Shizuoka prefectures.