Japan’s public transportation is thought for its punctuality, effectivity and high-quality service, which implies prepare journey is a good way to see the countryside and to expertise Japanese tradition — even when you’re squeezed into Tokyo’s crowded Yamanote line at rush hour or experiencing the favored high-speed Shinkansen bullet prepare.
But many savvy guests crisscross the nation in one other means, utilizing luxurious trains that resemble five-star lodges on rails.
Luxury rail journey appeals to “someone who wants slow travel, the experience of excellent service in a contained environment, the finest dining, the most exquisite accommodation with private bathrooms,” Simon Pielow, co-founder of the Luxury Train Club, mentioned by cellphone from Wiltshire County, England. “Things that many people have no idea is possible on anything other than a royal train.”
One journey chartered by his company begins and ends at Hakata station within the metropolis of Fukuoka, crossing the southern Japanese island of Kyushu on the Seven Stars, a seven-car luxurious sleeper prepare. Journeys for both two days and one night time (per particular person, double occupancy) vary from 650,000 to 900,000 yen (about $4,292 to $5,942), or 4 days and three nights from ¥1.2 million to ¥1.6 million. (A single complement would apply.)
“The train is very much sought-after because of the quality of the service on the train and its exclusivity,” Mr. Pielow mentioned. “The people who come to us are desperate to travel on the train.”
With restricted house, most would-be vacationers want to use a number of months prematurely.
The Seven Stars, or Nanatsuboshi in Japanese, was named partly after the variety of its carriages, partly after the seven prefectures of Kyushu: Fukuoka, Saga, Nagasaki, Kumamoto, Oita, Miyazaki and Kagoshima, and for seven of the principle sights of the area, together with its nature, meals and sizzling springs. (Other stars have been identified to trip these rails: The actress and producer Margot Robbie informed Vogue final yr that she and her husband had traveled to Japan partly to trip the Seven Stars.)
The prepare consists of a lounge automobile, a bar, a tatami-mat tearoom and a memento store, in addition to eight 108-square-foot personal rooms and two bigger suites, the most important measuring 226 sq. ft.
Guests don’t essentially need to spend all their time on board. They can even get off to take part in actions resembling a guided stroll alongside the Wakimoto coast, a seaside space of Kagoshima Prefecture, that lasts about an hour.
Meals will be consumed aboard the prepare or at eating places alongside the best way, and one night time will be spent in a ryokan, a standard Japanese inn.
So how does that work on a prepare? Some stops final an hour or extra, sufficient time for visitor excursions. But usually, the prepare will preserve rolling and decide up the friends at a later station.
But there are also different luxurious trains in Japan. (Seven Stars and the Shiki-Shima, detailed beneath, will be booked from abroad. The others listed right here should be booked from inside Japan.)
The Twilight Express Mizukaze is an Art Deco-inspired sleeper prepare embellished from conventional crafts resembling pottery and minimize glass. Onboard leisure features a tea ceremony, stay music and a signature cocktail from the bar. Five routes are provided, together with a two-day, one night time one-way journey and a three-day, two-night spherical journey. A set features a personal balcony and toilet with a bathtub at ¥875,000 for a shorter journey and ¥1.4 million for an extended one. A “royal” twin room with home windows on each side of the automobile was just lately listed at ¥385,000 per particular person, double occupancy.
The Aru Ressha is called a “dessert train” that runs between Hakata and Yufuin in Kyushu. The one-way, three-hour itinerary is simply sufficient time to bask in appetizer, fish, meat and dessert programs for ¥35,000 per particular person. The prepare is embellished with black and gold arabesques on the surface and baroque styling inside.
The Spacia X provides a extra budget-minded luxurious expertise. This six-carriage prepare outfitted with plush sofas and personal lounges hyperlinks Tokyo to Nikko, a picturesque metropolis in Tochigi Prefecture. Simran Nagra, a 33-year-old Canadian actuary who lives in Tokyo, used the prepare for a two-hour, ¥3,840 journey in July to the new springs resort of Kinugawa Onsen. “I was really excited to ride it because it’s a luxury train, but has very affordable pricing,” she mentioned. “The windows are huge and hexagonal, to highlight the views,” she mentioned, and the cafe automobile featured Nikko specialties together with craft beer on faucet, two sorts of sake and regionally sourced espresso.
GranClass was the selection out of necessity for the Australian journalist Jake Sturmer, 35, and his spouse, Rachel, in 2018. “We had just moved to Japan, some friends invited us on a trip, and the only seat available for us to travel was on GranClass,” he mentioned, referring to the first-class cabin on the Shinkansen. “What a luxury it was,” he mentioned, mentioning the big, soft seats, the new towels to cleanse fingers and faces, and bento bins they had been served throughout a two-hour trip from Tokyo to Iiyama in Nagano Prefecture.
The Train Suite Shiki-Shima was created to contribute to the restoration from the 2011 earthquake and tsunami in northern Japan.
Riders can select from 4 seasonal routes lasting from one to a few nights and departing from Tokyo. One goes northward alongside the Sea of Japan to Hakodate and the Upopoy National Ainu Museum and Park in Hokkaido Prefecture. Another is a wintertime itinerary by way of the snowy Tohoku area, the place friends will get off the prepare to view conventional dancing and take part in woodwork or stitching workshops with native artisans. Prices vary from ¥420,000 to ¥1.3 million per particular person, primarily based on double occupancy in a sleeper automobile.
Shinobu Ohashi, 34, a paper-cutting artist who lives and works in Saitama, Japan, used the Shiki-Shima in December 2020 and April 2022. “I wanted to experience the design of the Shiki-Shima train, which I had seen on TV and in magazines, and the hospitality provided,” she wrote in an e-mail.
The consideration to element impressed her: “When my companion complimented the garnishes that were offered only to the women on the dishes,” she mentioned, “he was then also brought the same ones. We were both surprised.”
During one journey the cherry blossoms in Hakodate had been in full bloom, she mentioned: “We were taken to a cherry blossom viewing spot that was not on the trip schedule.”
The prepare has particular that means for her. “I am from the Tohoku region, from Fukushima Prefecture,” she mentioned. “Even though a lot of time has passed since the March 11, 2011, earthquake and tsunami in Japan, I believe that Shiki-Shima is a reassuring presence.”
