A new gourmet restaurant section is to open up at the Ichibangai shopping complex at Tokyo Station’s Yaesu Exit on March 25th. Ichibangai (also called “First Avenue”) is already blessed with many restaurants, cafes and specialist sections such as Tokyo Ramen Street, and the confectionery section Tokyo Okashi Land. The new section is to be called “Nippon Gourmet Kaido” or “Japan Gourmet Street”, and will feature restaurants serving regional specialties from across the Japanese archipelago.

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Almost a year has passed since Kyoto Railway Museum first opened its doors on April 29th 2016. Over that short period the museum has already become one of Kyoto’s top new attractions with its displays of 53 railway vehicles, model railroad dioramas, a train simulator, and steam train rides.

To celebrate its 1st anniversary the museum has organized a series of celebratory events which will last from Saturday March 18th until Sunday May 14th. Among the events are several special displays, miniature railroad rides, workshops, a scavenger hunt, and even a superhero show! We have listed the main events below. [Read more…]

JR West have announced plans for two new hotels on the south side of Kyoto Station which will hold a total of 900 rooms. The two new hotels will occupy a prime location just two minutes’ walk from Kyoto Station’s Hachijoguchi Exit.

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JR West have announced plans to extend use of its ICOCA prepaid card service to all Hokuriku Main Line stations in Fukui Prefecture. The ICOCA card is a convenient rechargeable smart card that you can use in place of a ticket on the JR West railway network as well as on subways, private railways and buses throughout Japan. However, until now it has not been supported at stations in Fukui Prefecture. From the summer of 2018 all 19 stations in Fukui Prefecture between Shin-Hikida Station and Ushinoya Station will begin to support the card. The exact commencement date for this service and other details are to be posted by JR West at a later date.

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JR Hokkaido have announced a series of measures to improve services for overseas visitors which include the expansion of free Wi-Fi services and providing more travel information in Chinese, English, and Korean.

Free Wi-Fi

JR Hokkaido are increasing the number of stations that offer free Wi-Fi access. Currently 13 stations in Hokkaido offer this service, but 20 more stations will be added to this system this year.

To use the Wi-Fi service simply select the “0000FLETS-PORTAL” network and register your email address and password. This gives you 60 minutes of free Wi-Fi access, but you can login again as many times as you want. What is more, once registered you can get free Wi-Fi access not only at Hokkaido railway stations but at around 4,100 locations around Hokkaido where NTT East have the following sign displayed:

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Metropolitan Intercity Railway Company is introducing new multilingual ticket machines at all 20 stations on the Tsukuba Express railway line. The Tsukuba Express (also called TX) is a high speed railway linking Tokyo’s famous “electric town” of Akihabara with the science and research city of Tsukuba in Ibaraki. The TX, which first opened in 2005, cut down travel time between Akihabara and Tsukuba to just 45 minutes from a previous 90 minute journey along the JR Joban Line.

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This year sees the 6th anniversary of the Kyushu Shinkansen line’s completion, and to celebrate JR Kysuhu are offering two special discount tickets. Both a “one coin ticket” and a one day “free pass” will be available for use on the anniversary date of March 12th.

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JR East have revealed details of a new hotel which is currently under construction at the east exit of JR Sendai Station. The stylish new hotel will be called “Hotel Metropolitan Sendai East” to distinguish it from the original Hotel Metropolitan Sendai which stands at the station’s west exit. In a first for JR East Group hotels all guest rooms in the new hotel will be completely non-smoking.

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The popular mountain resort town of Karuizawa, known for its hot springs and gorgeous scenery, is to gain a new attraction this autumn in the form of a small railway theme park attached to Karuizawa Station. The theme park is part of Shinano Railway Company’s general redevelopment plans which are meant to lessen passenger congestion in the current station building. These plans also include making use of the neighboring Old Station Memorial Hall which until recently saw service as a museum displaying old railway photos and memorabilia.

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Tobu Railway will debut a new set of #500 series trains in the spring of 2017 which will run limited express services from Tokyo to a variety of destinations in northern Japan. The trains named “Revaty” will run from Asakusa in central Tokyo to scenic locations such as Nikko, Kinugawa Onsen, and Aizu-Wakamatsu.

The new train’s sleek design has been overseen by the award-winning industrial designer Ken Kiyoyuki Okuyama. Okuyama is best known for designing Ferrari automobiles but has actually designed a large number of other railway vehicles including JR East’s luxury cruise Train Suite Shiki-Shima which is also scheduled to debut this May. [Read more…]