Swiss walking across Japan

Swiss walking across Japan

KITAKYUSHU, Japan - Thomas Koehler, a former travel agent from Switzerland, smiles after arriving in Kitakyushu, Fukuoka Prefecture, in Kyushu, Japan's southern main island, having traveled through a tunnel from Shimonoseki on the Honshu main island on Dec. 5, 2011. Koehler has been walking across Japan to help revive tourism to the country, which has been dented by the March quake and tsunami and subsequent nuclear crisis.

JR West head gives instructions to tunnel inspectors

JR West head gives instructions to tunnel inspectors

OKAYAMA, Japan - Shojiro Nanya, president of West Japan Railway Co. (JR West), gives instructions to workers on the night of Nov. 12 before they start full-fledged inspections of tunnels on the Sanyo Shinkansen line linking Osaka with Fukuoka. JR West is inspecting all 142 tunnels along the line in an effort to prevent the recurrence of recent accidents in which concrete slabs fell from the wall of the Fukuoka and Kitakyushu tunnels, railway officials said.

JR West's president speaks after inspecting tunnel

JR West's president speaks after inspecting tunnel

KITAKYUSHU, Japan - Shojiro Nanya, president of West Japan Railway Co. (JR West), speaks to reporters Oct. 16 at Kokura Station in Kitakyushu, Fukuoka Prefecture, after inspecting a tunnel on the Sanyo Shinkansen Line where a block of concrete weighing 226 kilograms fell from the wall Oct. 9.

JR West head vows to review tunnel inspection manuals

JR West head vows to review tunnel inspection manuals

OSAKA, Japan - The president of West Japan Railway Co. (JR West), Shojiro Nanya, speaks at a news conference at JR West's Osaka head office Oct. 10. He pledged to review JR West's tunnel inspection manuals in the wake of Saturday's fall of a large concrete block in the Kitakyushu Tunnel in Kitakyushu, Fukuoka Prefecture, on the Sanyo Shinkansen bullet train line linking Osaka with Fukuoka.

Swiss walking across Japan

Swiss walking across Japan

KITAKYUSHU, Japan - Thomas Koehler, a former travel agent from Switzerland, smiles after arriving in Kitakyushu, Fukuoka Prefecture, in Kyushu, Japan's southern main island, having traveled through a tunnel from Shimonoseki on the Honshu main island on Dec. 5, 2011. Koehler has been walking across Japan to help revive tourism to the country, which has been dented by the March quake and tsunami and subsequent nuclear crisis. (Kyodo)

JR West head gives instructions to tunnel inspectors

JR West head gives instructions to tunnel inspectors

OKAYAMA, Japan - Shojiro Nanya, president of West Japan Railway Co. (JR West), gives instructions to workers on the night of Nov. 12 before they start full-fledged inspections of tunnels on the Sanyo Shinkansen line linking Osaka with Fukuoka. JR West is inspecting all 142 tunnels along the line in an effort to prevent the recurrence of recent accidents in which concrete slabs fell from the wall of the Fukuoka and Kitakyushu tunnels, railway officials said.

JR West's president speaks after inspecting tunnel

JR West's president speaks after inspecting tunnel

KITAKYUSHU, Japan - Shojiro Nanya, president of West Japan Railway Co. (JR West), speaks to reporters Oct. 16 at Kokura Station in Kitakyushu, Fukuoka Prefecture, after inspecting a tunnel on the Sanyo Shinkansen Line where a block of concrete weighing 226 kilograms fell from the wall Oct. 9.

JR West head vows to review tunnel inspection manuals

JR West head vows to review tunnel inspection manuals

OSAKA, Japan - The president of West Japan Railway Co. (JR West), Shojiro Nanya, speaks at a news conference at JR West's Osaka head office Oct. 10. He pledged to review JR West's tunnel inspection manuals in the wake of Saturday's fall of a large concrete block in the Kitakyushu Tunnel in Kitakyushu, Fukuoka Prefecture, on the Sanyo Shinkansen bullet train line linking Osaka with Fukuoka.