Notice Regarding (Moichi to Iwaizumi)

East Japan Railway Company March 30, 2012

East Japan Railway Company (the “Company”) has been providing buses as alternate transportation following disruptions to operations along the entire Iwaizumi Line due to a train derailment in a section of line between Oshikado and Iwate-Okawa on July 31, 2010. Following this accident, the Company set up the Iwaizumi Line Landslide Damage Investigation Committee (the “Committee”), which looked into the cause of the accident and evaluated safety along the entire Iwaizumi Line. The Committee issued its findings in December 2011, after which the Company has studied necessary safety countermeasures.

□Safety Evaluation and Countermeasures Large sums and long-term work are needed to ensure train safety

After evaluating safety, the Committee identified 23 individual locations where there was a risk of a large-scale rockslide like the one that caused the accident, as well as 88 individual locations where there was a risk of large rock falls that could impact train operations. Based on this safety evaluation, the Company studied necessary safety countermeasures in order to ensure safe train operations. These studies found that the Company would need to spend at least approximately ¥13.0 billion in total over the course of many years for ensuring train safety.

Train列車脱線事故現場 derailment site

もいち いわてかりや なかさと いわてわいない おしかど いわておおかわ あさない にしょういし いわいずみ Moichi 茂市 Iwate-Kariya岩手刈屋 Nakasato中里 Iwate-Wainai岩手和井内 Oshi押角kado Iwate-Okawa岩手大川 Asanai浅内 Nishoishi二升石 Iwaizumi岩泉 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 [2・7] [0・4] [0・4] 5 5 5 [0・3] 5 5 [0・8]

岩盤崩壊Rockslide の恐れrisk 5 [5・17] 5 [5・20] 落石のRockfall恐れ risk 5 [11・25]

□Trend in Passenger Numbers Passenger numbers are small and continue to decline today

The Iwaizumi Line has seen passenger numbers drop year by year to a very low level today. The average number of passengers (passengers per km per day) dropped by around 75%, from 180 people/day in the fiscal year ended March 31, 1988, when the Company was established, to 46 people/day in the fiscal year ended March 31, 2010.

(People/day) East Japan Railway Company establishment （人/日） JR東日本発足時 200 180178173 161 147 150 123 105 94 92 97 93 Fiscal2009年度 2009 100 87 83 85 76 75 73 73 72 62 58 49 46 50

0

1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 （年度）(FY) Passenger Numbers on All 67 Lines (Conventional Lines) Operated by the Company (Average passengers in the fiscal year ended March 31, 2010)

1 1,067,341 63 436 2 Saikyo Line 700,169 64 408

3 Tokaido Line 333,963 65 Yamada Line 392

4 218,655 66 388

5 Sobu Line 203,461 67 Iwaizumi Line 46

(Reference) Company (Entire line): 449* *Based on fiscal 2008 Annual Report on Rail Statistics

Given these circumstances, the Company is forced to abandon restoring Iwaizumi

Line as a railway line, and use buses instead to fulfill its responsibility to offer transportation services to the region.