Kamis, 28 April 2011

Japan Night Trains

Night Trains
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Below is a network map of Japan's night trains, i.e. trains that run through the night. All night trains are operated by the Japan Railways Group (JR). Due to competition by cheaper highway buses and low domestic airfares, the number of night trains in Japan has been decreasing steadily in recent years.
Train cars
Most Japanese night trains are equipped with couchettes and private rooms with beds, and some have cars with seats. Couchettes and private rooms come in two classes, A and B, with B being the more basic and less costly. In addition, some trains offer a "Special A Class" with rather luxurious suites.
All night trains are equipped with toilets and sinks, and the better ones have also public phones, showers, a restaurant and a lounge or lobby car.
  • Couchettes
    Couchettes are bunk beds, two or three stories high, in compartments shared by four to six people. "B class" couchettes cost around 6,000 yen, and "A class" couchettes around 10,000 yen. Most night trains carry at least one couchette car of either or both classes.
  • Private Rooms
    Private rooms come in single and twin. "B class" rooms cost around 6,000-9,000 yen per person, and "A class" rooms around 14,000 yen/person. More luxurious suites can cost up to 38,000 yen/person. Most night trains have some private rooms, but only a few have luxury suites.
  • Seats
    A few night trains carry cars with seats. Depending on the train, the seats may be non reserved, partially reserved or all reserved. Seat reservations cost about 300 to 500 yen. Seat reservations are free for Japan Rail Pass holders.
 
Japan Rail Pass and night trains
The Japan Rail Pass does not cover the cost for a couchette or private room! Japan Rail Pass holders will have to pay for it separately. In addition, pass holders also have to pay the (limited) express fee, which is typically around 3,000 yen, when using a couchette or private room.
While the Japan Rail Pass does not cover the cost for couchettes and beds, it fully cover the cost for a seat on night trains. Note however, that quite a few night trains do not carry cars with seats.
 
List of trains
Below is a list of Japan's night trains. The following information is given for each train (note that the ticket costs refer to a trip along the complete route):

Train Category   Train Name: Route
More detailed route, showing other major stations
Approx. duration of the tripFrequency of departures
Comments
Seat
Couchette
Private Room
Approx. ticket cost without Japan Rail PassApprox. ticket cost with Japan Rail PassApprox. ticket cost without Japan Rail PassApprox. ticket cost with Japan Rail PassApprox. ticket cost without Japan Rail PassApprox. ticket cost with Japan Rail Pass
From Tokyo:

Limited Express   Cassiopeia: Ueno (Tokyo) - Sapporo
Ueno - Omiya - Utsunomiya - Fukushima - Sendai - Hakodate - Sapporo
Approx. 17 hours3-4 trains per week
The Cassiopeia is Japan's most luxurious night train. It is equipped with a lounge and restaurant car and private "A class" twin rooms exclusively. It also carries some luxury suites.
Seat
Couchette
Private Room
w/o JR Pass
with JR Pass
w/o JR Pass
with JR Pass
w/o JR Pass
with JR Pass
-
-
-
-
34,000 yen
21,500 yen

Limited Express   Hokutosei: Ueno (Tokyo) - Sapporo
Ueno - Omiya - Utsunomiya - Fukushima - Sendai - Hakodate - Sapporo
Approx. 17 hours1 train per day
Equipped with couchettes, private rooms, luxury suites and a restaurant car.
Seat
Couchette
Private Room
w/o JR Pass
with JR Pass
w/o JR Pass
with JR Pass
w/o JR Pass
with JR Pass
-
-
27,000 yen
14,500 yen
27,000 yen
14,500 yen

Limited Express   Akebono: Ueno (Tokyo) - Aomori
Ueno - Omiya - Takasaki - Sakata - Akita - Aomori
Approx. 13 hours1 train per day
Equipped with couchettes, private rooms and so called "Goron to Shito" seats, which are basically couchettes without blankets, but are categorized as seats and can be used for free with the Japan Rail Pass. There is one "Goron to Shito" car for excluive use by women.
Goron to Shito
Couchette
Private Room
w/o JR Pass
with JR Pass
w/o JR Pass
with JR Pass
w/o JR Pass
with JR Pass
14,000 yen
free
20,000 yen
9,500 yen
20,000 yen
9,500 yen

Limited Express   Sunrise Seto: Tokyo - Takamatsu
Tokyo - Himeji - Okayama - Takamatsu
Approx. 10 hours1 train per day
Equipped with private rooms and so called "Nobinobi" seats, which are basically carpeted compartments to lie down, but are categorized as seats and can be used for free with the Japan Rail Pass. The Sunrise Seto is coupled to the Sunrise Izumo between Tokyo and Okayama.
Nobinobi Seat
Couchette
Private Room
w/o JR Pass
with JR Pass
w/o JR Pass
with JR Pass
w/o JR Pass
with JR Pass
14,500 yen
free
-
-
20,500 yen
9,500 yen

Limited Express   Sunrise Izumo: Tokyo - Izumo
Tokyo - Himeji - Okayama - Matsue - Izumoshi
Approx. 12 hours1 train per day
Equipped with private rooms and so called "Nobinobi" seats, which are basically carpeted compartments to lie down, but are categorized as seats and can be used for free with the Japan Rail Pass. The Sunrise Izumo is coupled to the Sunrise Seto between Tokyo and Okayama.
Nobinobi Seat
Couchette
Private Room
w/o JR Pass
with JR Pass
w/o JR Pass
with JR Pass
w/o JR Pass
with JR Pass
15,500 yen
free
-
-
21,000 yen
9,500 yen
From Osaka:

Limited Express   Twilight Express: Osaka - Sapporo
Osaka - Kyoto - Kanazawa - Nagaoka - Sapporo
Approx. 21 hours4-7 trains per week
Equipped with couchettes, private rooms, luxury suites, a restaurant and a salon car.
Seat
Couchette
Private Room
w/o JR Pass
with JR Pass
w/o JR Pass
with JR Pass
w/o JR Pass
with JR Pass
-
-
27,000 yen
11,000 yen
29,000 yen
13,000 yen

Limited Express   Nihonkai: Osaka - Aomori
Osaka - Kyoto - Kanazawa - Akita - Aomori
Approx. 15 hours1 train per day
Equipped with couchettes only.
Seat
Couchette
Private Room
w/o JR Pass
with JR Pass
w/o JR Pass
with JR Pass
w/o JR Pass
with JR Pass
-
-
23,000 yen
9,500 yen
-
-

Express   Kitaguni: Osaka - Niigata
Osaka - Kyoto - Kanazawa - Toyama - Nagaoka - Niigata
Approx. 8 hours1 train per day
Equipped with couchettes and non reserved seats.
Seat
Couchette
Private Room
w/o JR Pass
with JR Pass
w/o JR Pass
with JR Pass
w/o JR Pass
with JR Pass
10,500 yen
free
15,500 yen
6,500 yen
-
-
From Sapporo:

Express   Hamanasu: Sapporo - Aomori
Sapporo - Hakodate - Aomori
Approx. 8 hours1 train per day
Equipped with couchettes, reserved seats (reclining "dreamcar" seats), non reserved seats and a so called "nobinobi carpet car", which features carpeted compartments to lie down. Seats and the nobinobi carpet compartments can be used for free with the Japan Rail Pass. Some couchettes, nobinobi carpet compartments and reserved seats are for exclusive use by women. Note that on some days, the Hamanasu may not feature all of the above mentioned car types.
Seats, nobinobi carpet car
Couchette
Private Room
w/o JR Pass
with JR Pass
w/o JR Pass
with JR Pass
w/o JR Pass
with JR Pass
9,000 yen
free
15,500 yen
7,500 yen
-
-
In addition to the above listed trains, there are a few night trains, which run only during certain seasons or selected days of the year, such as the Express Noto between Tokyo and Kanazawa and a few so called "Moonlight" trains, e.g. the Moonlight Nagara and Moonlight Echigo, which are classified as rapid trains (kaisoku) and can be used with the Seishun 18 Kippu.


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