UTokyo Plarailers is an engineering circle at the University of Tokyo. Our mission is to "Hack Plarail" — using microcontrollers, electronic circuits, and programming to reproduce complex, real-world railway systems using toy trains.
"Plarail" is a popular Japanese toy train system produced by TOMY Company, Ltd. We go beyond simple play by developing:
Since our establishment in 2019, we have been actively participating in various exhibitions to showcase our engineering projects:
Regular exhibitions at Gogatsusai (May Festival) and Komabasai (Komaba Festival).
Participating in Japan's largest "Maker" convention to share our hacks with the tech community.
In recent years (2025-2026), we successfully implemented a Signal Aspect System and Collision Avoidance Systems, bringing our layouts closer to actual railway operations than ever before.
We are primarily based on the Hongo Campus. If you are interested in our activities, please feel free to reach out.