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Most of my trip reports are about getting to a great place, but in the case of the Shiki Shima, the trip itself is the destination. The trip was, in a word, amazing . Seriously, 11 out of 10. They took Japanese omotenashi hospitality and added an extra helping of "surprise and delight". It's that surprise part that I'm worried about writing this. I don't want to chronicle every little thing because then each of those surprise moments is robbed of its delight. I'll do my best to walk the line between telling too much and too little. Background The gorgeous, Ken Okuyama-designed train is relatively new and it's still so popular that there's a quarterly lottery for who gets to buy tickets. The website to enter the lottery is in English and Japanese, and service onboard the train is only available in those two languages. (Tour operators in Thailand and Hong Kong occasionally do full buyouts of the train and offer all-Thai/all-Chinese options,...

Japan has a number of fun, tourist-oriented excursion trains – vintage steam locomotives, open-air summer trains, Sanrio and anime-themed trains, and high-end luxury "cruise" trains. Anpanman train! Vintage steam locomotive! A couple years ago, the latest and greatest version of the latter was announced – the four seasons Shiki Shima cruise train. Rather than relying on vintage looks, the Shiki Shima is boldly modern. There are two "cruises" you can take – a 2 day and a 4 day. There's a view car, a gorgeous restaurant, a bar, and the entire train only holds 34 passengers! UPDATE: our trip report from this amazing journey is here ! View car Given that Japan is a nation of train nerds, demand was insane despite the sky-high prices. They implemented a lottery system for people hoping to buy tickets. With both of our 50th birthdays coming up, I decided to enter for a shot at this amazing experience. I've been on pins and needles for the ...

UPDATE MAY 2023. Japan Railways announced  a huge price increase for the Japan Rail Pass, making the math for all of this a lot easier: DON'T GET ONE unless you're planning on riding a long distance train nearly every day . There are still some good thoughts in here, so I'm just  strik ing the bits that are no longer true. It's quite common for visitors to Japan to buy a Japan Rail Pass before they go. It can save you money if your trip is involves lots of rail travel. I've purchased a pass for two of our previous trips , but decided not to on this coming one . While JR is the biggest railway conglomerate in Japan, there are many private railways that compete with/compliment JR. The Japan Rail Pass works only on JR trains ; for lines run by other companies, you'll have to buy a normal ticket like everyone else. The Rail Pass is also valid for travel on JR's urban railways like Tokyo's Yamanote line (you have to use a staffed entrance and show your ...

From Pokemon to Neko Atsume to shuinchou temple books , Japanese people love collecting things. If you've ever taken a ride on the glorious shinkansen bullet trains or ridden one of their extremely clean and punctual urban lines, then you know there's also a national obsession with great trains. The Eki stamp ("station stamp") is where those two obsessions meet . Most Japan Railways stations (including urban metro ones like the Yamanote line) have a unique stamp reflecting that station's history. Kids and train nerds (called "Tetchan") buy cute little books to collect the stamps of all the stations they've been to. The USA has a similar program with the national parks . One of my favorite stamps… All train-nerdiness aside, an Eki stamp book makes a great souvenir : it's flat, small, cheap, and light... and shouldn't take but a few moments to do when you're out and about. Special Eki stamp books are usually available at booksto...