Feature trains add variety to Japan’s rail services
Nostalgia is a given, but now foodies are getting on board
Railway companies in Japan are keen on supplementing their networks nationwide with sightseeing trains featuring unique decor, seasonal food on board or other novelties to attract aficionados and leisure travellers.
The Japan Railway group’s six passenger units say they have 50 such trains running in their October-November schedules, while other railway companies are also rolling out trains with singular services of their own.
These trains, often found in provincial areas, may be refreshing novelty for people whose image of Japanese railway transport is a stereotypical jampacked commuter train in a big city.
On East Japan Railway’s Iiyama Line straddling Nagano and Niigata prefectures, a two-car train in dark red and ivory paint, named Oykot, runs along the scenic Chikuma River.
JR East has been running the train, which incorporates interior touches of an old Japanese home, mainly on weekends since last year. It has woodgrain floors and walls as well as curtains designed like “shoji” paper screens. The name is devised by reversing the spelling of Tokyo, the country’s largest metropolis, supposedly suggesting that it is the opposite of urbanity.
Roughly once every month, it is operated as a “moving farmers’ restaurant”, providing local cuisine using ingredients from the areas along the track for group passengers — largely elderly people.
A JR East official said passengers enjoy “bucolic and nostalgic feelings”.
While sightseeing trains have a more than century-old history in Japan, a greater range was added after the 1987 birth of the JR group companies from the break-up of Japanese National Railways.
Each group company has since been coming up with unconventional vehicles including unique eyecatching models produced by high-profile designers.
Among the sightseeing trains that have debuted in the past few years, one of the most beloved by rail fans is the service dubbed the Hanayomenoren (bride’s curtain) of West Japan Railway, named after a local bridal custom.
The train’s multi-partitioned seating areas are marked by various lavish interiors inspired by local traditional crafts such as lacquerware from the Wajima region and Kagayuzen silk dyeing. It has been experiencing full booking since it was introduced last year on JR West’s Nanao Line in Ishikawa Prefecture. A boxed meal or a snack box is sold with advanced booking. Starting this October, the meal comes with autumnal delicacies from the region such as sandfish and sweet potato.
Shikoku Railway (JR Shikoku) operates a trolley carriage on its Dosan Line that runs through the Oboke Gorge in Tokushima Prefecture. In autumn, it offers a view of foliage on the cliffs carved by the Yoshino, the second-longest river in Shikoku, the smallest of Japan’s four main islands.
New debutants this year include the Izu Craile resort train operating since July between Odawara Station, Kanagawa Prefecture and Izukyu Shimoda Station in Shizuoka Prefecture.
Running through coastal scenery, East Japan Railway service sells box meals featuring locally sourced foodstuffs and is equipped with a bar counter and a lounge.
Outside the former national railway group, Seibu Railway has been running a diner serving a course menu since April. Kintetsu Railway introduced a new luxury express train in September, while Tobu Ralway is planning to reactivate a steam locomotive next summer.