The launch of the new Hokkaido Shinkansen service on March 26th is likely to popularize rail travel between Japan’s northernmost island, Hokkaido, and destinations as far south as Kyushu.
The new Hokkaido Shinkansen service will link Shin-Aomori Station in northern Honshu and Shin-Hakodate Hokuto Station in Hokkaido through the undersea Seikan tunnel. Once opened, the new route will provide a speedy service from southern Hokkaido, to destinations in the Tohoku region and Tokyo via the shinkansen network. Travel time between Shin-Hakodate Hokuto and Tokyo will be shortened by 1 hour and 20 minutes to just a 4 hour and 10 minute journey. However, it will also be possible to travel even further than that on the shinkansen network to destinations such as Nagano, Nagoya, Kyoto, Osaka, Hiroshima and Kagoshima. [Read more…]