New Tourist Train, the Royal Express in Japan

This July a new tourist train, the Royal Express started operations in Japan. The royal blue luxury train is Japan’s newest and biggest tourist train and is operated by Tokyu Corp and Izukyu Corporation.

The train aimed at tourists runs between JR Yokohama Station in Kanagawa Prefecture and Izukyu-Shimoda Station in Shizuoka Prefecture. The eight-car train with a capacity of 100 passengers will take in the spectacular scenery of the Izu Peninsula with the ride taking around three hours. The Izu Peninsula is a popular vacation destination with hot spring resorts and scenic coastal views of the Pacific Ocean. Izu is a stunning location with beautiful nature and this new train will bring further joy to the small communities located along the railroad where it’s running.

The Lost Coast of Izu Japan

The new train has been designed by Eiji Mitooka, who also designed the famed Seven Stars luxury express train for Kyushu Railway. It is easily recognizable by the gold line running along the side of its royal blue carriages. The train is decked out with a dining car as well as a multipurpose car designed for wedding ceremonies, exhibitions and small concerts. Sounds like a lot of fun!

Source: Japan Today

The tickets for this incredible new train are limited and are not covered by the Japan Rail Pass. You can find various travel packages using the irregularly operated train on offer now in Japan.

MUJI Hotel to Open in Ginza in 2019

MUJI one of Japan’s most popular brands will open its first hotel in Tokyo’s posh Ginza district in spring 2019 ahead of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

MUJI is a Japanese retail company which sells a wide variety of household and consumer goods. Its natural and simple design has made its products popular with not only the Japanese but with people from all over the world. MUJI designs are distinguished by their minimalism with emphasis placed on recycling and the avoidance of waste in production and packaging. It maintains this minimalist approach with a no-logo, or no-brand policy.

The new hotel will be located in a beautiful tree-lined street just a short two-minute walk from the Tokyo Metro Ginza Station. The 10-story building will be home to MUJI’s new global flagship store with the store to occupy one basement floor up to part of the sixth floor. The rest of the building space will be dedicated to a hotel overseen by the company.

Source: The Yomiuri Shimbun

The tentatively named Muji Hotel will be the first of its kind in Japan and will be decked out with all that MUJI furniture and amenities we just love. There are also plans to open two hotels in China in the near future.

The building will be constructed by publisher The Yomiuri Shimbun and real estate developer Mitsui Fudosan Co., MUJI hopes the hotel will become “a place where customers can thoroughly experience MUJI product lineups.”

Official Website 

 

Sacred Island of Okinoshima

The sacred Japanese island of Okinoshima in south-west Japan received UNESCO World Heritage listing last week on July 9, 2017.

The island was submitted for future inscription on the UNESCO World Heritage List back in 2009.

The culturally important island chronicles the progression of traditional worship rituals from the 4th to 9th centuries, which were conducted to pray for safe sea voyages.

Okinoshima is part of Munakata City in Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan, and is situated midway between the south-western island of Kyushu and the Korean Peninsula.

Okinoshima is located between Kyushu and the Korean Peninsula

The entire island is considered a Shinto kami (god) with various religious sites and shrines dotted across it to appease the gods to protect the surrounding waters, which served as an important trade route in the region between China and Korea. The sacred island is off limits to women and male visitors must strip naked before going ashore. The island’s main shrine, Munakata Taisha Okitsu Shrine is carefully maintained by a single male employee.

Munakata Taisha Okitsu Shrine

The shrine located in the southwestern portion of Okinoshima was established in the mid-17th century as a sacred natural site. The shrine has gone through several repairs and rebuilding phases over the centuries with the current structure remaining in pretty much the same condition since the Showa Period (1926-1989).

The island covers an area of 97 ha (240 acres) with its highest peak reaching an elevation of 244 m (801 ft). Okinoshima is not currently open to the public and can only be viewed from a distance offshore.

The sacred island of Okinoshima from the sea

Official Website

Japan’s Amazing Bike Vaults

Tokyo is one of the world’s great cities offering a huge diversity of attractions and experiences with pretty much something for everyone. One thing that it does lack is space, with over 13 million people living in Tokyo, space is at a premium. Many people rely on public transportation to get around the city, but more and more people are taking to two-wheels to travel. The Japanese Transport Ministry estimates that around 14% of the commuting traffic in Tokyo is on bike. While on the surface biking around may seem like a good idea, it has led to the inconvenience of bicycle’s being parked on already crowded pavements further reducing the already rare and precious space in Tokyo.

Friday Night in Tokyo

One company has come up with an ingenuous solution to help solve this problem by creating high-tech underground bike parking that simply store the bikes 40 feet underground. Dubbed the Eco Cycle, the 23-foot diameter storage facility can house up to 204 bikes. The solution is a win-win for everyone with no more clutter of bikes up on the streets, and owners resting easy with the knowledge that their bikes are locked in a safe place, away from thieves and bad weather.

From street level, an Eco Cycle looks like a small kiosk. In reality, they are gateways to futuristic subterranean parking lots.

The underground storage systems work in a simple but effective way. Place your bike onto the runway, swipe your membership card onto the reader, push a button and stand back as the automated system takes care of the rest. In less than 8 seconds your bike is stored away in its slot, and can be retrieved in around the same time. Membership costs 2,600 yen (USD$25) a month.

Eco Cycle Underground Bicycle Parking

Another key point of the underground bike vaults apart from being a shelter from bad weather is that they are completely safe from earthquakes, a regular occurrence here in Japan.

Today, there are around 50 Eco Cycle Stations across Japan with plans to expand overseas in the near future.

What do you think about Japan’s high-tech bike vaults? Please leave your comments and feelings below in the comment section.