A 17-year-old girl was hit and injured by a train as she walked along the edge of the platform, engrossed in her smartphone, police said.

According to police, the incident occurred at Kugenumakaigan Station in Fujisawa, Kanagawa Prefecture, at around 1:30 p.m. Saturday. Sankei Shimbun reported that the girl was walking along the edge of the platform, looking at her smartphone and with her head slightly tilted toward the tracks, when she was struck by a train on the Odakyu line. The girl received a slight head injury, police said.

The issue of people bumping into others, falling off train platforms or wandering into the path of an oncoming car (called "arukisumaho" in Japanese) has become a big issue recently.

JR East recently said that of 229 train delays caused by objects falling on tracks in April and May in seven prefectures, 23% were due to smartphones being dropped. Umbrellas were the next highest.

Last year, JR officials began a campaign to put up posters asking commuters to be careful with smartphones when standing or walking on platforms, as well as getting on and off trains.

© Japan Today