This mini article was first published May 21, 2020 on Wayfarer Daves Facebook. These will not be replacing regular full-length articles but may supplement from time to time on off weeks.
Dave and I have been pretty busy during this quarantine. Mostly making cocktails from the early twentieth century and thinking of all the places we want to try when this all blows over. In my case I’ve also been drinking Denki-Bran and Sakura Beer, and between hands of koi-koi really getting into the new Sakura Wars game. It’s a 90s adventure mecha fighting visual novel dating simulator set in a steampunk Taisho era (1912-26) and its just as fun as it sounds.
One of the things that caught my eye in the game is this street car (roman densha) that runs through Ginza. I like how they took a real vehicle and made it steampunk using other real elements to create a stylized fantasy vehicle still rooted in reality.
The base tram is a 1910s streetcar, the same model is also briefly seen in Demon Slayer. Sadly I think no real examples still exist so for reference I’m using a 160-series tram that was built in May 1911 (Meiji 44) by the Kawasaki Shipyard and is operated in Nagasaki. Of note this is the oldest wooden bogey tram in Japan. It has a fully enclosed cabin and cockpit with doors and a windshield for the driver.
They appear to have mated the “slug” and short smoke stack off the top of a 1930s D51 steam engine to it. The D51 or “Degoichi” began production in 1937 and was Japan’s most mass-produced steam engine of all time. Fitting as this faux- Taisho era is still going on into the year 1940 (Taisho 29) when the new game takes place.
I really, really wanted to do an article on steam cars because despite this one being a pure work of fiction they were an actual thing that saw use throughout the 19th and early 20th century. Getting enough material to outline their history and to show where Japanese steam cars fit in is where I’ve been hitting a wall, but we’ll see.