Travelling between Tōkyō and Hokkaidō has never been easier, with new high-speed rail services whisking passengers from the Japanese capital to Hakodate in under four and a half hours. Today, let’s see what it’s like to zoom all the way up to the great big north on an unbroken run along two shinkansen lines: oneContinue reading “Rail Report: Tōkyō to Hakodate on the Tōhoku and Hokkaidō Shinkansen, Japan (02 October 2017)”
Tag Archives: Japan Railways
Rail Report: Trainspotting my way around Shikoku, Japan (19-23 November 2016)
I’ve logged thousands of miles of travel through the years in pursuit of the two Japanese things that interest me the most: trains and castles. Needless to say, I find a journey especially rewarding when I can satisfy my thirst for both in one fell swoop – and there are few places better endowed inContinue reading “Rail Report: Trainspotting my way around Shikoku, Japan (19-23 November 2016)”
Rail Report: Niigata to Echigo-Yuzawa on the Genbi Shinkansen, Japan (30 September 2017)
I’m not a fan of contemporary art. In fact, if I were to speak plainly on the matter, I’d risk saying something unprintable. That said, I’m an incurable railway enthusiast through and through … and when I learned that one of Japan’s famous shinkansen trains had been transformed into a high-speed art gallery, riding thatContinue reading “Rail Report: Niigata to Echigo-Yuzawa on the Genbi Shinkansen, Japan (30 September 2017)”
Rail Report: Trainspotting my way from Ōsaka to Takamatsu, Japan (10 July 2015)
Getting there is half the fun, or so the adage goes – and this very often rings true for a railway enthusiast who undertakes a long-distance journey in the train paradise that is Japan. Today’s trip takes me from Ōsaka to Takamatsu, capital of Kagawa Prefecture on the island of Shikoku. We’ll have a lookContinue reading “Rail Report: Trainspotting my way from Ōsaka to Takamatsu, Japan (10 July 2015)”
Rail Report: From Tottori to Ōsaka, Japan on JR-West Limited Express Trains (09 July 2015)
It takes an enormous fleet of trains to serve JR-West‘s sprawling territory, and one stands a good chance of encountering several different examples on even a single day’s worth of travel. Let’s have a look at some of them as we cut across western Japan.
Rail Report: Tōkyō to Izumo on the Sunrise Izumo overnight train, Japan (05-06 July 2015)
In the summer of 2015, I set off on the longest continuous land journey I’d ever undertaken in my life, travelling west across nearly a thousand kilometres of track from Tōkyō to Shimane Prefecture. Rather than contend with a long daytime train ride and the inevitable transfers, I decided to sleep away the journey –Continue reading “Rail Report: Tōkyō to Izumo on the Sunrise Izumo overnight train, Japan (05-06 July 2015)”
Field Report: A day at the JR East Railway Museum, Saitama, Japan (04 July 2015)
Diego travels to a major transportation museum just north of Tōkyō, where the exhibits are bound to leave train enthusiasts feeling as giddy as kids in a toy store.
Within striking distance 