I am planning my third trip to Japan for June 2023.

[Steve4031]

I have seen youtube videos of newer limited express trains but I am not sure which lines these are operating on.  I read in another post that there might be newer shinkansen trains in service.  I was last in Japan in the summer of 2018.  

[bikkuri bahn]

If riding new rolling stock is one of your aims, some recent (within four yrs.) additions are:

1. The Nishi Kyushu Shinkansen:

https://www.jrkyushu.co.jp/english/train/shinkansen_kamome.html

2. The JR East Saphir Odoriko service:

https://www.jreast.co.jp/saphir/en/

3. Seibu 001 series on the laview/Red Arrow ltd. express:

https://www.seiburailway.jp/railways/tourist/english/limited_express/

4. Odakyu 70000 series romance car:

https://www.odakyu.jp/english/romancecar/

5. And my favorite, the Kintetsu 80000 series (winner of the 2021 Blue Ribbon) on the Hinotori service:

https://www.kintetsu.co.jp/foreign/english/hinotori/

*try to get a seat in the lead driving car

 

[Steve4031]

On 12/14/2022 at 7:40 PM, bikkuri bahn said:

If riding new rolling stock is one of your aims, some recent (within four yrs.) additions are:

1. The Nishi Kyushu Shinkansen:

https://www.jrkyushu.co.jp/english/train/shinkansen_kamome.html

2. The JR East Saphir Odoriko service:

https://www.jreast.co.jp/saphir/en/

3. Seibu 001 series on the laview/Red Arrow ltd. express:

https://www.seiburailway.jp/railways/tourist/english/limited_express/

4. Odakyu 70000 series romance car:

https://www.odakyu.jp/english/romancecar/

5. And my favorite, the Kintetsu 80000 series (winner of the 2021 Blue Ribbon) on the Hinotori service:

https://www.kintetsu.co.jp/foreign/english/hinotori/

*try to get a seat in the lead driving car

 

I'm on this!!  Thank you.  

[chadbag]

Just rode the Nishi Kyushu Shinkansen this week into and out of Nagasaki.  The Kamome Service Route is not completed yet so you take a “Relay Kamome” limited express to the station where they currently start the Shinkansen (Takeo Onsen IIRC) and transfer. The transfer is on the other side of the platform. 
 

While the Kamome Service uses N700S they are quite different from the JR Cenral

N700S in terms of how they are kitted out.  There is no Green Car (the ticket guy said when we got our reserved seats — I didn’t check) and the regular reserved seats are these cool wooden backed seats (padded of course) with in armrest trays — no flip down trays in front.  It had a much different feel. Because the route is not done yet it only takes 25-30 minutes to get to the end station in Nagasaki (depending on how many stops it makes — going on we skipped some and it was 24 min — leaving we stopped at at least one of those and it was 31 minutes). 
 

Edited:  Added pics

 

Here is the transfer from the limited express "Relay Kamome" to the "Kamome" Shinkansen.   Easiest transfer to a Shinkansen ever 😜

 

 

Insides of the Shinkansen

 

 

And a head on view once we got to Nagasaki

 

Edited December 31, 2022 by chadbag

[katoftw]

Same seats and floor as the 800 series shinkansens.

[Aleks]

I did the same trip in and out about a week ago... it was very cool. Interesting, the Wiki says there are three intermediate stations on the route, but on both my trips in and out, we only stopped at one of them and passed the other two. I even thought they were not yet open as we whisked through them and there was no one there...

 

The connection to Fukuoka has not been started yet. Saga Prefecture is in-between and is raising heavy objections. Apparently they have to pay the price of laying the track through their land, but they think they will get little benefit from it (because Saga to Fukuoka is already short enough travel time that would only be reduced by around 15 minutes with shinkansen). Also, there is always a concern that existing limited express services will be discontinued once shinkansen starts, and it's bad for some localities.

 

So when (or if) Nishi Kyushi is connected to the rest of the network... who knows.

[mojo]

I noticed the really nice wood trim and flooring in some of the regular trains too. Well, I guess the flooring at least is laminate with some sort of clear coating, but it looked good. I would have taken some photos but it was crowded.

[tridentalx]

On 12/15/2022 at 1:40 AM, bikkuri bahn said:

If riding new rolling stock is one of your aims, some recent (within four yrs.) additions are:

1. The Nishi Kyushu Shinkansen:

https://www.jrkyushu.co.jp/english/train/shinkansen_kamome.html

2. The JR East Saphir Odoriko service:

https://www.jreast.co.jp/saphir/en/

3. Seibu 001 series on the laview/Red Arrow ltd. express:

https://www.seiburailway.jp/railways/tourist/english/limited_express/

4. Odakyu 70000 series romance car:

https://www.odakyu.jp/english/romancecar/

5. And my favorite, the Kintetsu 80000 series (winner of the 2021 Blue Ribbon) on the Hinotori service:

https://www.kintetsu.co.jp/foreign/english/hinotori/

*try to get a seat in the lead driving car

 

Thanks. Did the Romance Car last time but the  Saphir Odoriko looks impressive. Added to the list for the next trip. Thanks for the suggestions.