Fans of the series that turned real race horses into cute anime girls will definitely want to ride this.

In Japan, it’s pretty common to hear about trains getting “jacked,” or “jakku sareru,” as it’s said in Japanese. This might be seem shocking, given how low crime rate are in Japan, but a train getting jacked doesn’t mean it as stolen.

And even though jakku sareru comes from the word “hijack,” it doesn’t mean that the train is commandeered by violent terrorists or criminals either. Instead, a train getting “jacked” in Japan means that it’s been taken over by a popular entertainment franchise, with every available surface being used to promote it.

So when our Japanese-language reporter Tasuku Egawa called in to headquarters to tell us he’d found a train that had been jacked by anime/video game franchise Uma Musume, we didn’t dispatch the SoraNews24 Special Rescue Operations Team (a.k.a. Sato Force), and instead instructed him to stay in the field and collect photos of the charming horse girls.

Tasuku was in luck, because this promotion is taking place on the Yamanote Line, the loop line that runs around downtown Tokyo. That meant that if couldn’t photograph all the artwork on the outside of the train before it pulled away from the platform, he could just wait until it came back around again.

And there is a lot of artwork on the outside, with no fewer than 52 Uma Musume cast members with life-size portraits next to the train doors.

Inside, the otaku-oriented stampede continues with more character artwork on the walls and hanging from the ceiling.

Yamanote Line trains also have video monitors inside their cars, and each and every one on the special train is exclusively dedicated to Uma Musume content such as quizzes and animated greetings.

▼ There’s even a special sequence comparing the speed the train is moving to how fast a thoroughbred race horse can run.

As for why Uma Musume is taking over a Yamanote Line train now, February 24 marked the one-year anniversary of the release of the Uma Musume Pretty Derby video game, and the special train is part of the associated celebration.

▼ “Thank you for the first year! We’ll be running full-speed this year too!”

Actually, there are two “jacked” Uma Musume trains, travelling in opposite directions on the Yamanote loop, which is a another plus for fans looking to photograph them from as many angles as possible.

▼ There was no way Tasuku was getting all these shots in the 30-seconds or so the trains are stopped at each station.


Unfortunately, there’s no set timetable specifically for the Uma Musume trains, so there’s no way to know in advance he exact time they’ll be at any particular station on a given day. You just have to hope that luck is on your side, which makes sense for a franchise about horse racing.

Photos ©SoraNews24
● Want to hear about SoraNews24’s latest articles as soon as they’re published? Follow us on Facebook and Twitter!
[ Read in Japanese ]