Japanese Reading Practice: A Train Notice with a Changed Departure Time

Read a short fictional station notice and distinguish the original departure from the replacement time. Use the final instruction to decide when to arrive.

Read the text

お知らせ

京都行きの電車は、今日は十時には出ません。十時二十分に出ます。

二番ホームで待ってください。九時五十分までに駅に来てください。

How to read this text

Start by finding the destination, then the changed time. The negative 出ません cancels ten o’clock as today’s departure; it does not cancel the train itself. The next sentence supplies the replacement time. 二番ホーム identifies a place, so do not confuse its number with the hour.

までに marks a deadline: arrive by nine fifty. It is different from まで, which can mark the end of a continuing period. The notice asks for arrival before the train’s departure, leaving a thirty-minute gap. These times are invented for the reading exercise and are not a live railway update.

English translation — check after your first reading

Notice: The train bound for Kyoto will not leave at ten today. It will leave at ten twenty. Please wait on platform two. Please come to the station by nine fifty.

Examples to read before you practise

The notice or message above is fictional and was written for this exercise. Answer from this text; do not assume that a real service follows these hours or rules.

Try six questions

Try these self-check questions from memory, then compare your answers with the explanations. For automatic checking and saved progress, open the related practice after this article.

1. Where is the train going? Copy the place name.

2. What time will it depart today? Use the clock time in Japanese.

3. Which platform? Type the number only, using Japanese or a digit.

4. By what time should you reach the station?

5. How many minutes separate the arrival deadline and departure? Type digits only.

6. Will it leave at ten today? Type はい or いいえ.

Answer key and explanations

1. 京都 / きょうと — 京都行き names the destination.

2. 十時二十分 / じゅうじにじゅっぷん / じゅうじにじっぷん / 10時20分 — The replacement departure is ten twenty.

3. 二 / に / 2 — The notice specifies platform two.

4. 九時五十分 / くじごじゅっぷん / くじごじっぷん / 9時50分 — 九時五十分までに gives the arrival deadline.

5. 30 — From 9:50 to 10:20 is thirty minutes.

6. いいえ — The first sentence explicitly says 出ません at ten.

Keep learning

• Study question time.

• Study te kudasai.

• Read a new text and try five questions.

• See your daily study and review schedule.

Related lessons

• Japanese Reading Practice: Rain Changes a Picnic Plan

• Japanese Reading Practice: A Community Event Invitation

• Wa vs Ga Practice: Topics, New Information, and Contrast