Jump to content
 

Japan Trip


dmustu
 Share

Recommended Posts

Interesting to see some older units still in traffic.

 

Cheers for posting

 

Your Welcome. JR West and JR Shikoku in particular still run quite a lot of older trains. This next batch of pictures are from Okayama, on to our first time on Shikoku to Tokushima and back to Okayama on our journey to Tokyo. Next time we go, I'm hoping to visit Takamatsu to ride on the Kotoden railway company, as all its trains are second hand from all over Japan, with trains dating back to 1925 still in service.

post-7477-0-37722600-1482838159_thumb.jpg

post-7477-0-51273600-1482838173_thumb.jpg

post-7477-0-82787700-1482838183_thumb.jpg

post-7477-0-29755700-1482838198_thumb.jpg

post-7477-0-37631500-1482838208_thumb.jpg

post-7477-0-39039400-1482838220_thumb.jpg

post-7477-0-94659800-1482838227_thumb.jpg

post-7477-0-12493900-1482838239_thumb.jpg

post-7477-0-86942500-1482838251_thumb.jpg

post-7477-0-32390200-1482838261_thumb.jpg

post-7477-0-14539400-1482838271_thumb.jpg

post-7477-0-07892900-1482838314_thumb.jpg

post-7477-0-39571100-1482838326_thumb.jpg

post-7477-0-61584000-1482838338_thumb.jpg

post-7477-0-45953200-1482838347_thumb.jpg

  • Like 14
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...

Great selection of pictures going in there. That bar isn't the one used in NHK's 'Japan Railway Journal' is it?

It is the bar used for Japan Rail Journal. Its called Bar Ginza Panorama Trains, about a 10 minute walk from Shinjuku east exit. They also have another branch in Shibuya, but we have not been to that one. The Blue Train cocktail is very tasty!

Link to post
Share on other sites

Excellent pics, the trams in the first post are a reminder of (part of) a childhood spent in Nagasaki, 10 yen a journey (600 to the £), money dropped into the tray and a salute from the white gloved driver....

 

gaijin....

Glad you like them. We didn't ride any trams on this trip, but have done on previous trips, and you still drop your fare in the box on your exit, and receive a a white gloved salute, but the fare is certainly more that 10 yen, and I doubt we'll ever see an exchange rate of 600 to the £!

  • Like 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • 1 year later...

So what in a nutshell is the essential stuff to do in Japan? My wife and I are planning a trip for next April, and I won't be able to spend the whole trip doing train stuff... Is the Kyoto museum worth my while insisting on?

 

The museum was closed on the day I was in Kyoto , however , I did ride the Sagano Scenic Railway nearby , which was decent enough - at the one end of the line these is a small museum and a large HO scale model railway in the station building.

 

We visited Tokyo , Osaka , Kyoto , Hiroshima & Toyama on our trip.

 

Railway wise, we did the Oigawa Railway Narrow gauge line, the Wakayama Electric Railway (home of Nitama the Cat Stationmaster) , Sagano Scenic , and the Kurobe Gorge Railway , all of which were easily accessible by public transport. We also rode the trams in Osaka , Hiroshima & Toyama (which is prototype for the Kato Unitram model).

Link to post
Share on other sites

So what in a nutshell is the essential stuff to do in Japan? My wife and I are planning a trip for next April, and I won't be able to spend the whole trip doing train stuff... Is the Kyoto museum worth my while insisting on?

Depends on where your going and what you like to see/do. The Kyoto museum is good, worth a visit if your there, but my favorite of the JR museums is the SCMaglev Park in Nagoya. The JR East museum in Omiya has just been extended, so would be worth a visit if your unable to go to the Kyoto or Nagoya museums. 

Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Gold

So what in a nutshell is the essential stuff to do in Japan? My wife and I are planning a trip for next April, and I won't be able to spend the whole trip doing train stuff... Is the Kyoto museum worth my while insisting on?

A few pointers here

 

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/49167-japanese-railways-some-recent-pictures/

 

Cheers,

 

Keith

Link to post
Share on other sites

The museum trams shown are standard gauge. They're former Kyoto Municipal Transport Bureau cars. Umekoji also has one of the narrow gauge Kyoto cars running on a short length of track in the park. 

 

kyoto_umekoji_park_gs_yuasa_battery_tram

 

Japan's first electric tramway was the private Kyoto Electric Railway, which opened in 1895 using 3'6" gauge. The municipality started building a standard gauge tramway in 1912, and took over the private company in 1918. They converted most of the lines to standard gauge, but the 6.6km route 10 from Kyoto station to Kitano remained narrow gauge until closure in 1961, worked by the original Brill cars like No.27. Others survive in various locations around Kyoto, as well as the operating car at Meiji Mura open air museum near Nagoya.

 

All the best,

 

Mark.

Edited by dullsteamer
  • Like 3
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Premium

So what in a nutshell is the essential stuff to do in Japan? My wife and I are planning a trip for next April, and I won't be able to spend the whole trip doing train stuff... Is the Kyoto museum worth my while insisting on?

If you are lucky it may be cherry blossom season when you are there. We went to Osaka, Kyoto and Tokyo. Great cherry blossom in Osaka, the Imperial palace in Kyoyo is worth seeing as are the many temple gardens; busses are easy to use. We stayed near the palace in Kyoto and would catch a train to the main station for our evening meals, the food was excellent. Go green car on the Shinkansen (1st class) the seats are western sized.

Link to post
Share on other sites

I was looking through the (usually excellent) video list on the news site Al Jejeera last night and came across this gem.

 

https://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/aljazeeracorrespondent/2015/08/rails-journey-japan-150818090224115.html

 

A personal look at how the country's railways reveal so much about Japanese culture and the changes in society.

 

A different sort of railway vid, very interesting. The Japanese are more rail crazy than us Brits !!!!

 

Brit15

Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Premium

Has anyone used any of JR East's Joyful Trains? Any idea how to get to such a thing arranged?

I haven't, but you can book through the railway companies themselves. Attached is the link to JR East.

 

https://www.jreast.co.jp/e/joyful/index.html?src=t_info

 

I believe you can also use travel companies in Japan for Joyful trains, but to be honest, it is probably easier to book via the train operators.

Link to post
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...

I was looking through the (usually excellent) video list on the news site Al Jejeera last night and came across this gem.

 

https://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/aljazeeracorrespondent/2015/08/rails-journey-japan-150818090224115.html

 

A personal look at how the country's railways reveal so much about Japanese culture and the changes in society.

 

A different sort of railway vid, very interesting. The Japanese are more rail crazy than us Brits !!!!

 

Brit15

The chap who presented that programme is the author of the travel book Japan By Rail. It's a worthwhile book to have for anyone planning a trip over there.

Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Premium

Brings back memories when Imused to work in Japan for a few months a year, but I always made time to visit Tam Tam shop in Tokyo, I took three large suitcases (stackable) with me on the trips of which only one had clothes in......and on the way home the other two had hundreds of N gauge stuff, mostly Kato but often other makes as well.

 

Better then as the exchange rate was around 450 to the pound, it worked out that a full Kato 6 car EMU set cost about £35 :O

 

I spent thousands....... :)

Link to post
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

I haven't, but you can book through the railway companies themselves. Attached is the link to JR East.

 

https://www.jreast.co.jp/e/joyful/index.html?src=t_info

 

I believe you can also use travel companies in Japan for Joyful trains, but to be honest, it is probably easier to book via the train operators.

Turns out plans can change - I've convinced the wife that we should do JR Kyushu's SL Hitoyashi, and then the Hisatsu/ kitto lines as an alternative to the Shinkansen between Kumamoto and Kagoshima.

 

Just have to hope that it's running and reservations are available on our dates. Will I have to have the JR Pass operational in order to make a reservation, or would they take one on the basis that the pass will be used?

  • Like 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...