“Wikipedia town @Uji ~ Let’s check out the Otogi Densha! ~”

On March 9, 2025, I participated in the Wikipedia Town “Wikipedia town @Uji – Let’s research the Otogi Densha!” held in Uji City, Kyoto Prefecture, Japan. “Wikipedia Town” is a workshop in Japan that involves walking, researching, and writing on Wikipedia.

Background of the event

This event was planned by Miyoshi Nobuhiko, the representative of the UJI Media Center and librarian, to enrich the Wikipedia article about the “Otogi Densha” (Fairy Train) a sightseeing train that operated in Uji City in the 1950s.

Uji City is a tourist city with many tourist spots, including Byodoin Temple, and on this day, there were many tourists, including Asians, Europeans, Americans, in downtown Uji. However, this event seems to have the purpose of focusing on aspects other than tourist spots, reexamining the history and culture of Uji city, and using this to revitalize the region in a broader sense.

Walking around town

The event was held at Nakauji Yorin in the center of Uji City. After listening to an explanation of Wikipedia by the lecturer Kazuto Aoki (Professor at the Fukui Prefectural University) and Miya.m (veteran Wikipedian), we walked to Amagase Dam, where the Otogi Densha’s terminus was located. It was a long distance for a Wikipedia Town walk, but the weather was good and we were able to walk comfortably.

The Otogi Densha was a sightseeing train that operated from 1950 to 1960, and the track was submerged with the completion of Amagase Dam. Remains of the track can be seen above the outlet of the Former Shizugawa Power Plant, and according to Miya.m, who is also a rail fan, these remains of the track may have been the track that connected to the Otogi Densha.

Pre-prepared literature

Since the venue, Nakauji Yorin, is far from the Uji City Libraries, it was necessary to prepare the literature in advance. This time, the literature was collected not only from the Uji City Library’s collection, but also with the cooperation of the Kyoto Prefectural Library. The Kyoto Prefectural Library has a track record of cooperating with many Wikipedia Towns, and is reliable in that it understands the quantity and quality of literature required when editing Wikipedia.

Editing Wikipedia: “Otogi Densha”

The main theme of this time was “Otogi Densha” (おとぎ電車). A Wikipedia article was created in 2008, and since then, many people have edited it to form the current article. It can be said that there is no clear main author who writes most of the article.

Perhaps because of this, although the article appears to be full of text at first glance, there were some parts that were difficult to understand due to the structure of the article. For this reason, the instructors Miya.m and Kazuto Aoki took the lead in discussing the direction of editing, and then participants divided up the editing work and edited the points that interested them.

One participant commented that by reading an article from the perspective of “what kind of edits should be made to improve the article?”, one can see the problems with the article. Even Wikipedia articles that we usually read casually can reveal many difficult-to-read parts and inaccurate descriptions by reading them from a critical thinking perspective.

Wikipedia Edit: “Former Shizugawa Power Station”

The Former Shizugawa Power Station was also a major sightseeing spot on the walk around town. Since I am interested in modern architecture all over the country, I did not join the Otogi Densha editing group, but instead created a new Wikipedia article for the Former Shizugawa Power Station (旧志津川発電所) on my own.

The Former Shizugawa Power Station is a facility that is not open to the public, and does not have a strong presence on the web or in literature. However, it was part of the dam that was the pioneer of gravity concrete dams in Japan, and there is no doubt that it was a facility that greatly contributed to the modernization of Uji City and the Keihanshin area. I think it is a very meaningful subject for creating a Wikipedia article.