rail dog by Kurt Bauschardt

This has to be the cutest excuse for a train delay we’ve ever seen involving a train driver, a dog, and a cookie.

Japan has lived up to its “kawaii” (cute) reputation again with this official reason given for a Hanshin Main Line train delay.

“A dog is on the Mukogawa train station tracks. The train driver is still trying to coax the dog with a cookie but it keeps biting.”

▼ A train pulling into Mukogawa Station in Osaka

1024px-HS-Mukogawa-pf2

▼ The official excuse can be seen in Japanese on the Jorudan mobile app

If that’s not the cutest explanation given for a train delay we need to keep researching official train excuses.

Five minutes later there was a new official post informing commuters the train service had resumed.

“We have caught the dog that was on the tracks and the outbound rapid express has resumed normal services with a 15-minute delay.”

We can just imagine the train driver pulling to a halt, purchasing a bag of cookies from the platform stall, and trying to coax the biting dog off the tracks. They could have at least posted a photo for us! [Editor’s note: The featured image is of a generic but adorable dog on some train tracks.]

Twitter users were thankful for the detailed explanation saying:

“I don’t know where this is but the reason for the train stopping on the Hanshin Main Line is too funny.”
“Hanshin Main Line – haha”
“It looks like they caught the dog. I wonder if the driver is okay.”

Despite Japan’s impeccable record of train punctuality, or perhaps precisely because of this punctuality, it can be a little frustrating when a train does become delayed, but I’m sure the reason posted for this Hanshin Main Line delay brought a little smile to everyone’s face. After all, you can’t really be angry about a train delay caused by an act of dog…

Source: Jin115, Twitter/@Haouju99, Twitter/@ykII00
Top image: Flickr/kurt-b
Insert images: Wikipedia/もんじゃ , Twitter/@Haouju99, Twitter/@ykII00