#joyful train

[merpmonde]

Best train shots of the Japan trip part 2: specials

In reference to Gôtoku-ji, a maneki-neko tram runs the Setagaya line in Western Tokyo.

One of the three One Piece Shinkansen sets (700 Series) departs Shin-Iwakuni bound for Shin-Ôsaka, with a 500 Series waiting to continue West for Hakata.

Finally, another cat-themed train: Aizu Railway's AT-551 unit is the "Nyan-tabi tetsudô" special, for the cat staff at Ashinomaki Onsen station.

[lagycart]

tokyo tohoku trip - day 1.

tohoku area is the northern part of the main peninsular in japan, and it’s not super famous as a tourist destination, however, there’s a lot to offer in the whole area and my friend has suggested that we explore a few towns and cities together during this trip.

so after a short sleep, i’m at tokyo station with my friend to redeem my 5 days jr east pass for tohoku area, which will allow me to use the tohoku shinkansen, jr local trains, jr buses and joyful trains, and many more, which you can find all the info on their official website.

if you are travelling a lot in 5 days within the tohoku area, it’s a really worthy pass to purchase, as a foreigner. tohoku shinkansen is a reservation seats only shinkansen, so it’s necessary to actually make reservations for all your trips, it’s best to plan your route beforehand and then go to the ticket counter and tell the staff which trains you would like to get onto.

for my case, it was really last minute and it was weekend, so the train that i wanted was full and good thing my friend was there to communicate with the staff about my plan and they finally suggested that i get a standing ticket for my first shinkansen in order for me to meet the schedule.

and the whole reason why there’s such schedule limitation is because i wanted to get on the pokemon with you joyful train, which only runs once a day every saturday and sunday. more about the pokemon train later...

this is my first experience to have a standing ticket for shinkansen, as all the previous times, i did get normal seats which is very comfortable. i also bought sandwiches for breakfast since i did not eat in the morning. standing tickets has train number on it, so you can only stay within that train. there’s some space in front and at the back of the train, which is quite nice and you can look out the window for the scenery. good thing that this ride is above ground, so it was quite nice to enjoy the scenery. i was okay for this standing ride, as there’s a lot of chance to sit later of the day.

i arrived at ichonoseki station around and make my way to the local train after storing my luggage at the station locker, as i plan to take the pokemon train at kesennuma station on the return trip. the local train ride gave a completely different feeling compared to shinkansen, as the speed difference is very obvious. the scenery along the countryside train tracks are amazing with beautiful sunshine. it was a really really slow and relaxing ride.

at kesennuma station, i got a short break and visited the convenient store to get water and snack, the local people are very nice and friendly, they thought i was japanese until i told them i wasn’t. and i’m actually happy that my japanese language is good enough for me to communicate with simple sentences.

the station also has quite a few pokemon related photospot, which is just so cute. even the station sign is pokemon themed. after a short wait, it’s finally time for the long awaited train ride. the staff is super friendly and helped me to take photos at every opportunity, which i’m super grateful about. there were families with young kids on board, some adult pokemon fans like me as well, but the train is not full or packed, so it was really comfortable.

the train has 2 sections, one section is the playroom and the other section is the seating area. everywhere you look on the train, it’s super cute and pikachu everywhere. i was so so happy and the inner kid in me wish to just stay on the train forever. the playroom has so much plushies to play and take photos with and it’s fully carpeted so you can sit anywhere and just enjoy the kawaii atmosphere and setup, they truly made sure every detail of the train is amazing. we also got a badge souvenir after answering a short survey (in japanese), and at certain train stops, the staff will lead us into the station for few minutes to get a pokemon train station stamp on the postcard that every customer received. it’s truly fun to experience everything during the entire ride. absolutely worth the time and money to try and get on the train at least once, especially if you are a pokemon/pikachu fan.

the train does stop at a few stations along the way and there’s some outdoor decorations setup at those station as photo spots. even without them, the countryside scenery is actually beautiful, especially as the sun was about to set, every photo is just so picturesque. and this whole fun filled experience is covered by the jr east pass!

got some onigiri after the ride arrived at ichinoseki station, since i did skip lunch that day. while i did not move a lot, i do need some energy to keep my body warm as the sun set was early and the weather gets cold very quickly. i continued with my journey up north to aomori by shinkansen which is the city i will be staying the night at.

from ichinoseki station, i took a shinkansen to morioka and made a brief stop to wait for the next shinkansen to aomori as there’s no direct connection, since ichinoseki is a smaller town/station. at morioka, i got to visit a bakery cafe below the station and enjoyed a beautiful and delicious strawberry tart, i do miss and love japanese desserts, just so pretty and so yummy with the fresh and good quality ingredients.

initially, i was planning to make a stop at hachinohe for dinner, but the restaurant i intended to go was fully reserved, hence i decided to just go to aomori straight and find something else for dinner there. the shinkansen is noticeably less crowded by now as most people has arrived at their destination by now.

shin aomori station is a relatively new looking station, and i do still need to take one more local train to arrive at the aomori station and walk to my hotel. it was here that i saw real snow for the first time! i was super excited about it and can’t wait to see more once i arrived. the walk to my hotel was not too far, but roads are covered in snow, it was quite beautiful to see so much white everywhere, even though the sky is dark by now. checking in to my hotel was easy, and the room is quite nice and spacious for one person.

then i went to nearby streets to hunt for food, and ended up at this kushiyaki placed called hyakushiki ひゃくしき 青森新町店, i believe this place is quite new though. the menu is completely in japanese, so i did spend quite a long time to just read everything. i ordered quite a few kushiyaki, chicken karaage and dashi tamagoyaki. the food is so so so good, ingredients are very fresh and the batter is so light and crispy too, a good find definitely.

after filling up my stomach, i called it a day and went back to my hotel for a hot bath to relax and went to bed for a good night sleep, as there’s more exciting activities to look forward the next day, which my friend will be joining me on the trip.

to be continued.

[merpmonde]

Joyful Train updates

First, some news. The 500 series Shinkansen (best train ever!) is currently being withdrawn, and there have been photos of one set being scrapped. This is going to continue into 2026, and with that, the retirement of the Hello Kitty set has been announced for next Spring (likely at the change of timetable on 1 March). If you want to see it or ride it, time is running out!

I had planned to talk about other Joyful Trains today, so the news fits in somewhat. There appears to be no end in sight for these however.

We've covered the Anpanman Trains previously, specifically the one operating from Okayama. Above is its counterpart starting at Takamatsu - the Shiokaze and Ishizuchi expresses join together at Utazu before running together to Matsuyama.

The whole train is decorated, mostly rather moderately, and everyone gets a themed welcome announcement (link to YouTube video, not my recording). Like the Hello Kitty train, there is one carriage where things get crazy: this is a reserved seat carriage, which I didn't visit as I was using a non-reserved rail pass. But I did see through the windows at a terminus station, and it's full rainbow inside! The seats used in that carriage were also on display at the Shikoku Railway Cultural Center in Saijô.

The museum had a whole exhibit on Anpanman trains, including boards showing all the decorations used since the scheme's inception in October 2000. Last time we checked, JR Shikoku were celebrating 1 million passengers, now we're on the 25th anniversary!

The very first Anpanman train was a 2000 series tilting Diesel multiple unit, JR Shikoku's first tilting train, introduced in 1990. This comes full circle with our previous post, where I noted that the two 2600 series DMUs are the next trains to join the Anpanman fleet. This has been done, I've seen some pictures doing the rounds.

One 2000 series Anpanman train still runs between Matsuyama and Uwajima, on the Uwakai express service running in tandem with the Shiokaze/Ishizuchi trains from Okayama and Takamatsu, and "tandem" is the correct term: the trains, in very similar livery, connect with each other at Matsuyama. I wasn't aware of this particular train when I arrived off the ferry from Kyûshû, but nothing says "welcome to Shikoku" like an Anpanman Train coming to pick you up!

[merpmonde]

Hello Kitty Shinkansen. Yes it's real, and it's a lot of fun.

A year ago, I planned a trip between Hiroshima and Kokura on what I feel is the wackiest train concept imaginable. Take the 500 Series Shinkansen, an absolute rocketship (and IMO the best train ever) and wrap it in pink. That didn't sound too appealing to me when I first heard of the project, but I've got to say, the livery is a banger, and turned a lot of heads at every station we stopped at!

The train remains on a regularly-scheduled service, a return trip between Hakata, Fukuoka on Kyûshû, and Shin-Ôsaka as an all-stop Kodama, so it's a normal train... save for two cars. Car 1 is basically a shop, while car 2 is the Kawaii! Room, a seating car in full Kitty mode!

The front of car 2 also has a space to pose with Kitty-chan. As a collab, the Hello Kitty Shinkansen takes the opportunity to showcase the prefectures JR West serves, with Kitties on the map promoting each area's special feature, such as "the great lake" in Shimane (Shinji-ko), "we love this pear!" for Tottori (though Kitty seems to be holding an apple?), takoyaki for Ôsaka, and Hyôgo is "proud of Bread" (any thoughts on that @todayintokyo?). These 8 local characters are repeated on each of the 8 cars outside.

While I'm not a fan or particularly knowledgeable about Hello Kitty, I thoroughly enjoyed riding this train. It's over the top with Easter eggs everywhere, down to the jingles! (not my recording)

All that's left to say is...

[merpmonde]

JR Shikoku's Anpanman Trains

I might be doing this post a bit early, though I can always do a follow-up in a month or so *wink-wink*nudge-nudge*, but while we're on the subject of Shikoku, here's JR Shikoku's biggest Joyful Train programme: the Anpanman collab. There are at least seven vehicles in circulation, and since 2000, over a million passengers (1万 is 10,000) have been carried in these colourful specials, as indicated by the flag seen at Takamatsu station. I've only seen one, but it's a wow-ee:

If the fact that there are seven trains based on this character running around isn't enough of a clue, let's spell it out: Anpanman is a big deal in Japan. I feel he's not very well known outside, but domestically, it's a huge childrens' media franchise - grossing higher than Hello Kitty consistently since 2002, and that character's got a few trains in collab with JR West, including a banger Shinkansen set, but not seven!

So what is Anpanman? The titular character is a superhero with an anpan, a red-bean filled bun, for a face. All the characters and world are food-themed, with the antagonists being incarnations of mold and germs - the main baddie is Baikinman, just left of the rainbow below the windows. Bottom right of the picture are four of Anpanman's allies: Cheese the dog, Uncle Jam his baker and assistant Batako-san, and Melonpanna the melon bread-head. There's clearly more, and this train's 5 carriages long!

Anpanman trains come in many forms, from more leisurely tourist trains to Diesel and electric express sets. This is the electric one: a tilting 8000 series than runs mainly between Okayama/Takamatsu and Matsuyama, along the North coast of Shikoku. After spotting this train in Okayama, I caught a normal 8000 the next day to go to Imabari.

[merpmonde]

Before Hello Kitty, it was Evangelion

The Joyful Shinkansen made its debut between Ôsaka and Hakata in 2015, and marked two anniversaries: 40 years of the complete opening of the San'yô Shinkansen, and 20 years of the mecha anime Neon Genesis Evangelion. And it's safe to say the mash-up of a 500 Series rocketship and a giant robot was bound to work!

For two and a half years, this train ran one daily return on a Kodama service, until it became the Hello Kitty Shinkansen. When I visited Japan in 2016, I made a point to see it en-route to Hiroshima. Timetable-wise, Fukuyama was the right spot.

As a Kodama train, the 500 TYPE EVA wasn't the fastest, and would often wait for Hikari and Nozomi trains to pass before continuing. This was the case here, and here's an N700 overtaking.

Erm, that didn't look blisteringly fast, did it? Well, taking into account the size and distance it may not, but a very rough calculation (length of a 16-car N700 set: 400 m, in 6 seconds) yields a speed of 240 km/h. The speed limit on the San'yô high speed line is 300 km/h.

Back to the Evangelion train! As is the case in the Hello Kitty train, two cars received particular attention. Car 2 was a decorated seating car, and car 1, with windows covered, had a mock-up cockpit and simulator game!

With the overtake done, the 500 TYPE EVA set off. Riding it didn't fit into my schedule on that voyage, but it was great to see it. Best livery on a 500 in my opinion!

[honjitsuno1mai]

#4458 ＠ 長野県南佐久郡南牧村野辺山（JR小海線 野辺山駅）

[honjitsuno1mai]

#4457 ＠ 長野県南佐久郡南牧村野辺山（JR小海線 野辺山駅）