History
The Beppu Rakutenchi Cable Line, between Unsenji (the lower station, Rakutenchi-shita) and Otobaru (the upper station, Rakutenchi-ue), opened on 21 September 1929 to carry visitors up Mount Tateishi to the Rakutenchi amusement park. The line was suspended during WWII as a non-essential route — its rails and even iron parts of the cars were requisitioned — and resumed service on 16 June 1950 under Beppu Funicular Railway. Ownership passed to Beppu Kokusai Kankō in December 1954 and to Okamoto Manufacturing (the present operator Rakutenchi) in November 2003. After a 2008 closure during failed sale negotiations, the line reopened together with the park on 18 July 2009 as part of the Rakutenchi rebrand. Operation was again transferred when the park was spun off to a separate company (Rakutenchi Co.) under the Nishi Oil Group on 1 June 2018. Trains run every 20 minutes, taking three minutes between the two stops.
History summarized from Japanese & English Wikipedia · last reviewed 2026-05-25.
Notes
Despite being legally registered as a railway under Japan's Railway Business Act, the line cannot be ridden on its own — visitors must buy a Rakutenchi amusement-park ticket; only local residents of Otobaru on the mountain are allowed to ride for the fare alone.