For the last five years Hankyu Railway have been running a special weekend “Kyo-Train” for tourists on the regular route between Osaka and central Kyoto. The train is remarkable for the fact that its interior design mimics the typical machiya style of an old fashioned Kyoto townhouse.

Machiya are the traditional long wooden townhouses of Kyoto city, renowned for the fine craftsmanship and simple grace of their construction. Once common, sadly in recent years they have become increasingly rare as private developers knock them down and replace them with utilitarian concrete blocks and parking lots. There is a counter movement however, that appreciates the nostalgic appeal of machiya, and seeks to restore, renovate, and reinvent their image as attractive modern locations for shops, cafes and restaurants. By remodeling their “Kyo-Train” in the image of a machiya townhouse, Hankyu Railway too are seeking tap into this touristic appeal of old Kyoto. [Read more…]

JR have released details of course routes and prices for their new luxury cruise train “Train Suite Shiki-Shima.” The exclusive sleeper train will begin excursions between Tokyo’s Ueno Station and northern Japan from May 1st 2017.

This 10 car excursion train features observation cars at front and rear, one lounge car, one dining car, and six cars devoted to private suites including one car that holds a Deluxe Suite and a maisonette style “Shiki-Shima Suite.” [Read more…]

The Setouchi Area Pass is five day discount pass for overseas visitors offered by JR West and JR Shikoku to promote travel in western Japan. The pass currently gives unlimited access for unreserved seats on JR trains between Kansai Airport, Osaka, Okayama, Hiroshima and Hakata as well as select buses, and ferries to islands of the Setouchi area. From July 1st of this year the pass will become more inclusive and the services it covers broadened to include JR trains in the Kyoto and Nara area, JR buses in the Chugoku region (including the Hiroshima sightseeing loop bus), Setouchi sightseeing steamboats between the ports of Hinase and Obe, and Okayama Electric Railway Trams.

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As all true railroad aficionados know, before the golden age of steam, horse-drawn wagonways were the preferred method of hauling heavy loads, and long before the advent of the electric trolley car, it was horse-drawn trams or horsecars that provided the main source of urban public transport. Mostly we know about this from history books, and can only imagine what it was like to glide along a tramway to the clip clop beat of a horse’s hooves. There is one location in Hokkaido though, where visitors can enjoy a nostalgic trip back in time with a ride on a horse-drawn tram.

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In advance of the 2020 Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games, JR East have announced plans for a new alphanumeric coding system for stations in the Tokyo Metropolitan area. The new system should make it easier for people to find their way around, especially international visitors who are unaccustomed to Tokyo’s labyrinthine transit system.

Each line will receive a 2 letter alphabetical code beginning with “J” for JR, “JY” for example being the code for the JR Yamanote Line. This line code will be followed by the station number. Yoyogi Station for example, will be listed as “JY 18”. Major stations that are important transfer points between several lines will also receive 3 letter codes. The 3 letter code for Shinjuku Station for example is “SJK”. [Read more…]

Every year Tokyo Metro announces a new series of posters reminding their customers to ride the subway in a courteous way. These eye-catching “Manner Posters” have been produced continuously since 1974, and are world renowned for the ever inventive ways in which they remind us all to be considerate towards our fellow passengers. Each year has a single theme with one new design for each month, and these are posted liberally throughout Tokyo Metro stations and trains. This year’s series of posters have just been announced and they promise to be very educational, as the all new theme is “kanji”.

Kanji, of course are the Chinese characters that are used to write the Japanese language. Each new poster will center on a single kanji character for immediate visual impact, and around that will be a graphic illustration and explanatory text. Tokyo Metro have stated that they chose the kanji theme because even from a distance, the single character will grab people’s attention and immediately convey the essential message. They also want to arouse the interest of overseas visitors with these posters, and so the text is written in English as well as Japanese. [Read more…]

Tokyo’s Keio Railway have announced plans for a new commuter train with a seat reservation system to be launched in 2018. For an extra fee passengers will be able to reserve seating on the train during the busiest commuter periods.

The reservation system will be introduced on trains traveling from Tokyo’s Shinjuku Station to Keio Hachioji and Hashimoto Stations during the evening rush hour. Seats in the carriages will be adaptable, so that they can be arranged lengthwise during the day, and then in forward facing pairs during the reserved seat evening commute. LCD information screens will be installed above the doors, and also from the central ceiling, so that they can be easily seen by all passengers. In addition there will be free Wi-Fi, power sockets for each seat, and space provided for wheelchairs and strollers. [Read more…]

Seibu Railway recently announced plans for a new model limited express train, the first of which will debut in 2018. By 2019 the company plans to have 7 of these new trains running each with 8 carriages produced by Hitachi Ltd.

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As the opening day of the Hokkaido Shinkansen approaches on March 26th, Hokkaido’s Hokuto City has unveiled plans to commemorate the occasion with a bronze statue of a manga character from “Fist of the North Star”. The new statue will be erected at Shin-Hakodate Hokuto Station, which will be the Hokkaido Shinkansen’s final stop.

“Fist of the North Star,” is a popular post-apocalyptic manga and anime series featuring a warrior hero whose most famous catchphrase is “You are already dead!” The series is known in Japanese as “Hokuto no Ken”, so the good citizens of Hokuto City clearly found a striking pun there, that they felt would add some punch to the newly renovated Shin-Hakodate-Hokuto Station. Apparently the creators of “Fist of the North Star” have been consulted on this project and have offered their full cooperation. [Read more…]

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…]