160905-0024 - Japanese Railway Workers

Poster postcard featuring an illustration of two railway workers wearing hats at work outside a tunnel to publicize the cost of railway construction.

The cost is stated as 200,000 yen per ri (3.9km or 2.44 miles). The equivalent of laying ten yen bills side by side for the same distance.

Published sometime between March 1918 and February 1933 (Taisho 7~Showa 8).

Japanese text:

線路が出来るまで
線路の建設費一里に付約二十万円
丁度十円札を線路の上に一枚ずつ並べたと同様であります

English translation:

Until the railway is completed

The construction cost of a railway is approximately 200,000 yen per ri (3.9km or 2.44 miles)

Just the same as arranging ten-yen bills one by one on the track