This month there's a contrast between new an old.
Fukui Railway locomotive, at Nishi-Takefu, 21. Sept. 2003.
Locos like this are still used for shunting MU cars around the workshops of the many private railways of Japan.
And as a contrast the Ocean Arrow, a modern express EMU, photographed at Kyoto station, around 23 Sept. 2003.
Photos by Oliver Mayer