Enoshima Electric Railway

Company History: The Enoshima Electric Railway or Enoden (江ノ島電鉄 Enoshima dentetsu) is a private railway in Japan which connects Kamakura Station in Kamakura with Fujisawa Station in Fujisawa, Kanagawa. Stations en route include Hase, the stop closest to Kōtoku-in, the temple with the colossal outdoor statue of Amida Buddha. The railway is fully owned by the Odakyu Group of companies. The route is 10 kilometers (6.2 mi) long and has a rail gauge of 1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in). It is single-track; however, five of the route's fifteen stations are equipped with passing loops, allowing for the operation of bi-directional traffic. Included in the route is a short (450-metre (1,480 ft)) section of street running between Koshigoe and Enoshima stations. For this and other technical reasons, the entire line is governed under the Tramways Act (軌道法 kidou-hou) of the Japanese government, being one of only three such lines in the Greater Tokyo Area (the others being the Toden Arakawa Line and Tokyu Setagaya Line, both in Tokyo proper). Trains are electrically powered from 600 V DC overhead lines. The section from Kamakura Station to Koshigoe is in the city of Kamakura; that from Enoshima to Fujisawa Station is in the city of Fujisawa.

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.