Riding the Hello Kitty shinkansen in Japan | JP | Japan travel 🚅😺

In November 2023, we travelled on the Hello Kitty bullet train between Okayama in Western Honshu and Hakata station in Fukuoka, Kyushu.

This special themed bullet train goes between Osaka and Fukuoka most days to replace a normal Kodoma service.

It's included in the Japanese Rail Pass for no extra charge, but it's definitely recommended to book seats in one of the other carriages to guarantee you can ride it. The train only goes once a day each way, and booking seats is especially important if you're getting on part-way through the route or if you're travelling at high seasons.

Carriage 1 is the shop, and Carriage 2 is decorated, but it's unreserved seating.

I'd also recommend going to the shop as early as possible on your route. We got on almost halfway on the route in Okayama. The bentos and some of the merch had already sold out when I walked down to the shop, and by the time that Steve went over, when we were closer to Fukuoka, it had been almost completely cleared out!

To book seats on the Hello Kitty shinkansen, you can use the new Japan Rail pass seat reservation tool, go to one of the green Midori no Madoguchi ticket offices in bigger train stations, or you can use ticket machines, although sometimes these can be a bit complicated to use!

Find out more about the Hello Kitty Shinkansen at the following links:
https://www.jrailpass.com/blog/hello-...
https://www.jr-hellokittyshinkansen.j...

Music credit: Papl00 Papl00 on YouTube.

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