Japanese Trains with the Family -- Our 2023 Trip

[TestudoToTetsudo]

Just returned from an amazing two-week trip to Japan with my wife, my son (6yo), daughter (infant) and parents.  The three missions of this trip were:

 

• To introduce my children to my father's family (my dad immigrated to the US from Japan many years ago, his entire rest of the family still lives in Japan)
• Show my kids the country of Japan, and
• Ride lots of trains, including completing the entire Shinaksen route network and fleet types 

 

Glad to say we succeeded on all three counts!

 

This post will be a long text trip report, and I'll add photos in the comments over the next day or two as I have time.

 

Trip Logistics

 

Timing

This was a trip three years in the making.  We originally planned to go in May of 2020, but of course that did not happen.  Last year we also learned we'd be traveling with yet another family member, as my son was getting promoted to older brother with the birth of our daughter last fall.  We booked the trip just a few days after my daughter was born; while summers in Japan are soupy, my son was in kindergarten and we wanted to go once his school year ended. 

 

Flights

We also booked early because we saw United offering seats on the nonstop Washington-Haneda flight at their "saver" level for those redeeming MIleagePlus points, knew that the price in points would not go lower, and would likely go much, much higher as more countries reopened post-COVID and more of the public was less apprehensive about travel.  And it was a good thing we did!  Airfares in points went way up shortly after we booked, and airfares in dollars were on the high end of historic rates. 

 

Hotels

Similar story with hotels.  As a family traveling in one room, and a second room with my senior parents, we knew that the Toyoko Inn would probably be a bit too small for our needs.  We originally booked 14 nights at the Shinagawa Tobu Hotel in Tokyo, figuring we'd do day trips around the country, and got an incredible rate for a family size room with three beds.  So great in fact, that when we decided to add four nights in Kyoto later on, it was cheaper to simply eat the cost of paying for 14 nights and staying only 10 than to rebook the reservation for only ten nights at the dramatically higher rates seen later on.  For Kyoto, we stayed four nights at the Keihan Grande hotel next to the station.

• Shinagawa Tobu was one long block uphill from Shinagawa station, so the walk with lots of luggage and a baby in a carrier was a little hike, but the hotel itself was great in terms of convenience and service, particularly for the price.
• Keihan Grande was yet another notch up, with one of the best breakfast buffets our family has seen at any hotel anywhere in the world.  Fresh carved breakfast meats and cheeses, a wide variety, and floor to ceiling views of Shinkansen arriving and departing from Kyoto station from the breakfast restaurant (and a similar view from the elevators!).  That said, they did not offer a lounge space like Shinagawa Tobu did.

 

Train tickets

We got Japan Rail Passes for the three of us (two adults and one six-year-old) who needed them and made extensive reservations ahead of time.  I learned the hard way the need to do this EXACTLY one month out from departure, and to already know which trains you want to reserve as soon as inventory opens a month before travel!

• Despite booking and searching 26 of the 30 possible days in advance of departure, we already were unable to get round trip tickets on the JR East POKEMON with YOU train on the Ofunato Line, but we did get tickets on the return leg from Kesennuma to Ichinoseki.  It turned out that there was no reduction in fun or activities for kids who only rode the return segment versus who rode the outbound or round trip, and we saw on our Ofunato Line futsu train outbound other families positioning themselves to Kesennuma to ride the Pokemon train back.
• I also could not find a solo seat for myself from Tokyo to Shin-Hakodate-Hokuto on the 8:17am Hayabusa, despite searching nearly a month in advance.  That train fills up fast!  So I took the 7:32 AM Hayabusa to Shin-Aomori, picked up some tasty apple souvenirs for my parents to enjoy at the hotel, and boarded the Hayabusa I wish I could have ridden out of Tokyo a half hour later.

For non-JR lines, I brought my previous two Suica cards from past trips.  I learned that Suicas expire after 10 years, so the card from 2009 was no longer valid, but the card from 2015 was still good.  The chip shortage meant that Suicas and Pasmos were hard to come by for regular Japanese citizens, but a tourist version was still being sold that expired after 28 days.  We got those for my wife, and the kids version for my son.

 

Rather than post a day by day chronological breakout of our trip, I think I'll post my train-related travel highlights by theme.  So without further ado...

 

The biggest highlight: Bonding with my Son over Japanese Trains

 

One of the best surprises I got from this trip was just how much my six year old son became fully interested and immersed in Japanese trains.  When he was a preschooler we gave him plenty of Japanese train toys to play with, including a Tomica Plarail set, and at age 3 he was singing the song of all the stops on the Yamanote Line.  I thought that his interest had waned as he had entered kindergarten and shifted his interest to Pokemon, Akedo, NERF, trick shot videos on YouTube and more conventional cartoons.  And yet, once we landed in Tokyo, my son's interest in Japanese trains roared back overnight, and grew larger than I ever could have imagined.  Simply put, one of the great things about Japanese trains are that the Venn Diagram of "Cool Japanese TRAIN stuff" and "Cool Japanese KID stuff" have so much overlap.  Some highlights:

 

1. My son dove fully into the Eki Stamp custom, and we got a whole notebook just for his eki stamps.  He declared that he really, really wanted -- and we ended up spending maybe a cumulative 10-12 hours of quality father/son time running around Tokyo as a result, collecting stamps from all 29 Yamanote Line stations!  This did involve taking him on an eight hour trek to collect half of the stations (including the world's three busiest stations -- Shinkuku, Ikebukuro and Shibuya at the height of rush hour)...but we made it fun and even got pancakes for dinner at the Original House of Pancakes above Shinjuku Station.  In addition to the 29 Yamanote Line stops, my son also got the stamps from the Ofunato Line (one component of the kids' activities for the POKEMON with YOU train), Kyoto, Shin-Osaka, Odawara, Nagano, Matsumoto, Omiya (when we went to the Saitama Railway Museum), and many others.
2. My son LOVED the Saitama Railway Museum, especially the Yamanote Line E205 Simulator, miniature train driving experience, and seeing and walking through the old Shinkansen.  His one disappointment was that the E1 MAX was closed off from entering and walking through.  He seemed to develop a real interest in the double decker Shinkansen during this trip, wishing he could have ridden them before they were retired.  He ended up getting an E4 MAX Shinkansen Plarail train from the museum gift shop.  Amazingly, as soon as my wife approached the front desk of our hotel with the toy Plarail train, she didn't even need to ask if they had a screwdriver for inserting the battery -- the Front Desk staff probably had kids as well...
3. On the way back from Nagano, my son demanded that we "take the scenic route home", bail off our Asama Shinkansen at Omiya, and ride up to Utsunomiya and back so that he could collect rides on the E2 and E3 Shinkansen.  He argued we HAD to do this as the retirements of these models of Shinkansen will likely be complete well before our next opportunity to return to Japan.  So a side trip to Utsunomiya we did while my wife took our baby daughter straight back to the hotel.  My son can now say he has ridden in the E2, E3, E5/H5, E6 E7/W7, 500 series, N700 (A, S and 7000 varieties) of Shinkansen in regular service.  And, lifetime, I can say I've ridden all current types of Shinkansen as I rode the 700 and 800 series on previous trips (as well as the now-retired 0, 100, 200, 300 and E4 types on previous trips).
4. My son LOVED watching trains over the world's busiest stretch of railroad at Nippori, and asked "Daddy can I be your special train watching partner" while we were there.
5. As soon as my son heard that there was a Hello Kitty Shinkansen, he was emphatic about needing to ride it.  I only brought it up because I knew we could work it into the trip.  I needed to collect a ride on the 500 series anyway to collect riding experience on all active Shinkansen types, and my wife wanted some time to do her own thing in Kyoto.  So when our Hikari got to Kyoto, we stored our suitcases at the baggage services company on the southeast side of the station (since all the lockers we found were full), and my wife took the baby in the carrier off to do her own thing in Kyoto while my son and I went to Shin-Osaka to catch the Hello Kitty Shinkansen to Okayama (and a Sakura back).
6. But perhaps the best highlight was, of course, the POKEMON with YOU train experience on the Ofunato Line.  We rode the Hayabusa from Tokyo to Ichinoseki and a regular Ofunato Line DMU to Kesennuma, got lunch at the station's combini, and watched the arrival of the inbound POKEMON with YOU train.  When it arrived we did what the rest of the families did, and got a taxi into downtown Kesennuma to get stamps from the local attractions.  Once back at the station we boarded the train for two hours of pure bliss for both my son and his 8-month old sister.  The POKEMON with YOU train consists of one car with booth seats for families, and one car which is basically an indoor playroom.  I don't think I have ever seen my son so giddy as in that playroom.  And my baby daughter loved it too!  They were the perfect ages for it.  After arriving back in Ichinoseki, my son declared to us that "today was one of the best days of my life!"

 

The Other Train Stuff

 

Of course, I did not just do train stuff with my kids.  My wife is a real saint in that she took both of our kids for the day on two of the days (one in Tokyo one in Kyoto), so that I could use the days to complete the Shinkansen network.

 

Day trip to Northern Japan

 

On the Tokyo-based day, I got to Tokyo station very early thanks to jet lag, and got a video of the "7-minute miracle" done by Tessei cleaners to enable 12-minute turns of JR East Shinkansen.  I rode an early morning Hayabusa from Tokyo to Shin-Aomori, connecting to the following Hayabusa (which was sold out between Tokyo and Shin-Aomori) to complete a trip from Tokyo to Shin-Hakodate Hokuto.  Was pleasantly surprised to see the number of tour groups using the Shinkansen to see Northern Japan, often led by a tour guide holding a flag on the platform.  After picking up some omiyage in Shin-Aomori and pictures and a brief walk outside the station in Shin-Hakodate-Hokuto, I returned to Morioka on the Hayabusa and got a video of the Hayabusa + Komachi coupling.  Then it was off for a nice trip on the Komachi to Omagari, before a real gem of a trip from Omagari to Shinjo on the Ou Line.

 

Riding the Ou Line was a real step into a whole other Japan than what most visitors see.  "Wan-Man" operation, high school students using the train to commute up to 30 miles (50 km) home from school, everyday life in rural areas revolving around a two-car EMU.  Given how auto-centric most rural areas are worldwide, I chalk this up as a uniquely Japanese phenomenon.  And something everyone who wants to say they got out of the big cities during their visit to Japan should ride...doesn't have to be the Ou Line, but some Wan-Man futsu train being used by everyday Japanese in the countryside somewhere in the country.

 

Jetlag and darkness both hit me on the ride back from Shinjo and I slept much of the way.  I want to come back to see this stretch in daylight, but I can now say I rode the entire Yamagata Shinkansen.

 

Day trip to Southern Japan

 

On the Kyoto-based day, I snuck out of the hotel early enough to get one of the "direct" Nagoya-Hakata HIKARI Shinkansen, a convenient one-seat ride on my Japan Rail Pass.  I missed out on the chance to ride in a much larger reserved ordinary seat on the N700-7000 Sakura I originally reserved with my pass, but the seat next to me on the Hikari remained empty the entire trip to Hakata.

 

After praying to the Railway Gods at Hakata's Railway Shrine, I caught the Relay Kamome to Takeo Onsen and the Kamome to Nagasaki.  The interior of the 787-series Relay Kamome was dated, but the scenery was excellent.  The late-model N700S on the Kamome was amazing.  I really appreciated the updates to the LED information displays in the N700S and loved the wood accented 2-2 seats in the reserved coaches on the Kamome.  The only downside were the small tray tables.  Not large enough for a laptop, but enough for a small notebook and a drink maybe.

 

A brief walk around Nagasaki Station revealed an impressive rebuild for the Shinkansen, and yet more construction work.  Curious if they're building a ginormous station "city" complex like what JR has at Hakata and Kagoshima-Chuo.  Walking around some of the overhead pedestrian bridges radiating from the station, one saw few new buildings (save the hotels on the "other" side of the station) -- and of course, few if any buildings older than August 1945.  The neighborhood seemed dated from the post-WWII rebuild.  And you can instantly notice how the mountains nearby hem in the city; I recall reading that this helped result in a lower death toll from the nuking of Nagasaki versus Hiroshima; the mountains kept the damage contained to the city center.

 

On a better note, the return Kamome trip to Takeo Onsen was similarly excellent, and I was glad to see trains in both directions well patronized despite the transfer at Takeo Onsen.  At Takeo Onsen, for variety's sake I decided to transfer to a Midori for Shin-Tosu rather than the Relay Kamome.  As the Midori leaves from a separate platfrom at Takeo Onsen than the Relay Kamome, this caused some confusion -- especially since the faregate area to the Midori platform was unattended.  The transfer at Shin-Tosu was much better signed and smooth, and at 4:30 PM, I arrived at Kagoshima-Chuo having completed the entire Shinkansen network.  Kagoshima-Chuo had a great Station City complex, and there was a dance competition occurring by the front entrance.  The toden stops on the street in front of the station, and like in Nagasaki there were (a) pedestrian overpasses from the station to nearby commercial centers, and (b) mountains encircling the downtown core -- the Shinkansen comes out of the last mountain and within a couple hundred meters seems to hit the station platform.

 

So now it was time to celebrate completing the Shinkansen network with an Ekiben dinner and return to Shin-Osaka and Kyoto.  Or so I thought.  The rains that had moved into Southern Japan on July 1 were so heavy that they completely suspended operation of the Sanyo Shinkansen between Hiroshima and Hakata.  Announcements began to be made on Sakura 570 which I was on shortly after Sendai that we would have a service disruption ahead, and sure enough, we were offloaded at Hakata.  I walked around the station for about two hours, finding hundreds of people sitting on benches, the floor, and hundreds waiting just outside the Shinkansen faregates.  JR West noted that the Shinkansen line would reopen around 19:30, and shortly after that time we started hearing announcements on the platform for trains.  The departure board, which had been blank for several hours, began to display trains again -- but only Kodama and Nozomi trains operating east.  I had a Japan Rail Pass, and began to realize as it was around 8pm that the Kodama would not get me back in time for system close at midnight, potentially standing me somewhere until service started the next morning.  Figuring I could either spend $100 USD on a hotel in Hakata/Hiroshima/Okayama or $100 USD on a NOZOMI ticket to ride the one train that would get me back by system close (since my Japan Rail Pass cannot be used on NOZOMI), I opted for the latter.  I never thought that my first NOZOMI ride would be under these circumstances.

 

Despite announcements and departure times shown on the board as early as 20:20 for a very delayed Nozomi 62, the actual equipment did not arrive onto the platform at Hakata until around 20:45; we departed at exactly 21:00, over two hours late for Nozomi 62's scheduled time.  I was in the Jiyuseki, and every seat was taken (with some standees in the vestibules) leaving Hakata.  I was worried that this train would turn into a bedlam of overcrowding at Kokura and Shin-Yamaguchi, but that apparently was not the case; it appeared that JR West ran a Sakura around us at Hakata station, which would have skimmed the standees who had gone six hours without a train from those first few stops.  Our Nozomi did make an unexpected stop at Toyohashi, and all the way to Shin-Osaka it appeared we were following some train ahead of us as the engineer never really had the opportunity to make up any time.  Once the engineer change occurred at Shin-Osaka, you could tell we had an open railroad and an engineer bent on making up time; I timed us at only 12 minutes from Shin-Osaka to Kyoto, and you could feel the speed of the aggressive train operation.  Kudos to JR Tokai for continuing these first few Nozomi all the way back to Tokyo that night, even if it cost some time from the overnight work window for track maintenance.

 

One other day trip to the Japanese Alps

 

My wife wanted to do a scenic train ride from Tokyo, and I was able to turn this into a day trip to Matsumoto and Nagano.  We rode the Azusa from Shinjuku to Matsumoto, the Shinano from Matsumoto to Nagano, and the Asama from Nagano back to Tokyo (this is the trip where my son and I did a bit of a detour on the way back).  I must say that after this trip, between Nagano, Nagasaki, Kagoshima and Hakodate, plus time I spent in Himeji and Akita on my last trip to Japan, I really am developing a liking for Japan's mid-sized cities, not just the megaregions of Kanto and Kansai.  I think I'm going to try to work more nights on future trips to be spent at hotels in smaller cities, especially because I am noticing more and more Japanese hotel staff understanding English (and as technology like Google Translate continues to rapidly improve).  My son also loved the playground a few blocks from Nagano Station, which contained a zip line and sprinkler fountain in addition to the usual playground equipment.

 

In Conclusion

 

This was an excellent trip for all of us.  My son already wants to know when we can come back to Japan, and wants to stay longer than two weeks next time.  I found an amazing way to bond with my son.  My wife had a great time, and I got to achieve all of the train riding goals I had.  My parents, who stayed in Tokyo for the entire trip as their goal was to spend time with Dad's Japanese family in Tokyo, said this was one of the smoothest trips they have ever had to Japan.  Even my daughter, who turned 9 months old during the trip, was all smiles most of the time, and fussed a lot less than she does at home.  She's very social and very smiley, and LOVED being in the busy places of Japan where people would always look and smile at her, and she'd smile right back!  My wife would note that whenever she'd take our daughter out in public, Japanese women would approach her and say "kawaii!"  One word my wife knows very, very well now.  Finally, the TRUE dealbreaker for family travel to Japan and whether it was enjoyable or not: DID THE KIDS BEHAVE ON THE AIRPLANE?  And drumroll, but the answer was YES!  My son went into "plug and play" mode, where he simply watched cartoons between our iPad and United's inflight entertainment the whole trip.  My daughter loves flying as the white noise of the jet engines helps her nap, and as mentioned, she loves people and smiling.  Sitting in the nosebleed seats in the back of the airplane put us in close proximity to other families with small kids, and that both meant that many seated around us were more understanding of families with small kids on the plane AND gave my kids others to play with (my daughter, despite being only 9 months old, LOVES giggling and looking at other babies in close range).

 

We know we won't be able to make it back to Japan for a few more years, but when we do, I'm already starting the list of what to do.  As it stands now, my wife wants to see more natural beauty out of the cities, so I'm envisioning day trips from Tokyo to Hakone and/or Nikko, and maybe a ferry trip to one of the islands off Tokyo, as we're often able to work our family obligations (on our end at least, versus my folks who have more) into a family reunion day + a second day to visit the family plot near Yutenji.  I would also like to spend more time in Kyushu, and possibly explore Shikoku for the first time, so maybe we'll find a way to work that in with my wife's desire to see scenic beauty...and maybe do some "surf and turf" combining trains and ferries in that part of Japan.  And of course, I'll need to ride the Hokuriku Shinkansen extension that opens next year...and, depending on when "next time" is, possibly the Chuo Shinkansen and Sapporo extension as well.  Finally, another feather in the cap for visiting Shikoku next time, my wife wants to try an overnight train in Japan...and the Sunrise Seto would make that a reality.

 

Finally, a big THANK YOU to everyone on JNSforum who answered the questions I posted before and during this trip!  You really helped me get quick answers to questions, and better informed our trip into being the great experience it was.  Thank you!

 

Photos and video links coming soon!

 

 

 

[TestudoToTetsudo]

Some photos from the Ofunato Line, Kesennuma and POKEMON with YOU train.  The playroom car was usually much, MUCH more active with many more kids doing all sorts of free play with the Pikachu stuffed animals, but I was busy playing with my own kids so I didn't get as many photos of that...

[TestudoToTetsudo]

And some photos from the Hello Kitty Shinkansen.  Car 1 has the "Merch Shop", Car 2 has the photo op statue of Hello Kitty and much more of a Hello Kitty theme in its interior, while Cars 3+ were more regular in layout.

 

[TestudoToTetsudo]

Getting some of those 29 stamps from the Yamanote Line stations...and the chocolatey pancakes we had for dinner at Shinjuku while doing so!

[kuro68000]

Glad you have a good time, and thanks for the fantastic photos!

 

I'm not wondering if I should take a stamp book with me... Can I overcome the embarrassment of an oji-san collecting them? 🙂

 

That reminds me, there is an app called Railway Station Photos:

 

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=de.bahnhoefe.deutschlands.bahnhofsfotos

https://f-droid.org/en/packages/de.bahnhoefe.deutschlands.bahnhofsfotos/

 

I don't know if you can get it for iPhones. Anyway, they are trying to collect photos of every station. I added a load when I was in Japan last. It's a fun little diversion. Some stations are hard to get good photos of, if you like a challenge. Maybe one for the kids too?

[TestudoToTetsudo]

1 hour ago, mojo said:

Glad you have a good time, and thanks for the fantastic photos!

 

I'm not wondering if I should take a stamp book with me... Can I overcome the embarrassment of an oji-san collecting them? 🙂

 

That reminds me, there is an app called Railway Station Photos:

 

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=de.bahnhoefe.deutschlands.bahnhofsfotos

https://f-droid.org/en/packages/de.bahnhoefe.deutschlands.bahnhofsfotos/

 

I don't know if you can get it for iPhones. Anyway, they are trying to collect photos of every station. I added a load when I was in Japan last. It's a fun little diversion. Some stations are hard to get good photos of, if you like a challenge. Maybe one for the kids too?

Glad you like the photos!  
 

I don’t think there will be an issue with an Ojiichan getting stamps.  It’s a good hobby to have as it costs nothing beyond the train fares to these stations!  And I saw some adults getting them too!

 

Thanks for the info on the station project app.  Unfortunately I use iPhone so I may have to wait for the future, but glad to know such an app exists!

 

Edited July 8, 2023 by TestudoToTetsudo

[TestudoToTetsudo]

Saitama Railway Museum

[TestudoToTetsudo]

Hakata Railway Shrine, Nagasaki Shinkansen

[TestudoToTetsudo]

Completing the Shinkansen network at Kagoshima-Chuo, then the service disruption at Hakata on the way back

[TestudoToTetsudo]

Day trip to Northern Japan

[TestudoToTetsudo]

Day trip to Matsumoto and Nagano

 

Edited July 8, 2023 by TestudoToTetsudo

[mags_minibuilds]

Thank you for sharing your story, sounds like you've covered quite a few ground. We brought our 7 year old son (who is a train-head) to Tokyo/Kyoto/Takayama in early June for 2 weeks. We visited the Railway Museum in Saitama too and he loved driving the miniature train (we almost have the same photo!), we got the blue/silver commuter. Although we own (and my son drives) a 7.5" gauge (2.5" scale) switcher locomotive in our local club in California, he still found it very entertaining. It is very hard not to like trains in Japan since they are everywhere! My son enjoyed the small local lines such as the Hiei train on the Eizan Railway in Kyoto and the Tenryu Hamanako Railway in Shizuoka (although this one was quite off the beaten path)! He just enjoyed standing in the front of the train watching the engineer drive and looking at the scenery. Early on the trip, we hit up the Plarail shop in Tokyo Station and he had his "blue tracks" to play with throughout the entire trip.