On November 28th, JR East Japan Railways announced an international tender of 18 diesel railcars for replacement of the current railcars on the Hachihohe line.  

It is likely to be one of the first major procurement announcements since the EU Commission agreed to remove railroad procurement from the WTO framework.  

For more information about the tender see the following links:

Tender details (In English) (Please note that part of the documentation is in Japanese)

JR East English language procurement page 

DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS: 27-02-2015 6:00 PM JST