Heigh-ho~!
I'm leaving tonight for Tokyo on the night train - choo choo!
No, seriously - the Sunrise Seto departs daily at 9:00 pm and arrives in Tokyo at 7:00 am the next morning. I've never taken it before, and had forgotten it even existed, until I stumbled upon a reminder of it the other day.
Price-wise, it's not a that great of a deal, which is why those of us around here tend to be unaware of it. The night bus to Tokyo is the cheapest, running about 9,000 yen and taking 12 hours. Then there's the shinkansen, which will get you there in 5 hours and run you about 16,000 yen for a one-way ticket (unreserved seat). The Sunrise Seto takes 10 hours and costs about 14,000 yen for it's cheapest seats, so you only save about 2,000 yen and it takes longer.
The benefit of the Sunrise is that those 'seats' are actually flat cubicles of carpet in which you can lie down in, as opposed to a chair-style seat as on the bus or the shinkansen. (There's also an eating car for getting up and moving about a bit in.) Also, for those of us in Kagawa, we have to transfer from the Marine Liner to the shinkansen in Okayama. No such transfer is needed for the Sunrise Seto.
I had originally wanted to get one of the small, private rooms available on the Sunrise, but that is significantly more expensive - about 20,000 yen. Basically, you're paying for a (very small) hotel room that moves. I decided I'd rather hold onto my money.
Will decide if it was a good choice or not in the morning I suppose! Here is a really good post about it with pictures, although it should be noted that I don't have the Japan Rail pass, which is only available to international tourists.
Will be in Tokyo for a day, and then in Yokohama for three. Bringing my notebook but I'm not sure if I'll have wireless internet access, so posting may or may not occur. The hardest thing at the moment is trying to waste time until my train without of course getting so caught up in something that I miss it!
No, seriously - the Sunrise Seto departs daily at 9:00 pm and arrives in Tokyo at 7:00 am the next morning. I've never taken it before, and had forgotten it even existed, until I stumbled upon a reminder of it the other day.
Price-wise, it's not a that great of a deal, which is why those of us around here tend to be unaware of it. The night bus to Tokyo is the cheapest, running about 9,000 yen and taking 12 hours. Then there's the shinkansen, which will get you there in 5 hours and run you about 16,000 yen for a one-way ticket (unreserved seat). The Sunrise Seto takes 10 hours and costs about 14,000 yen for it's cheapest seats, so you only save about 2,000 yen and it takes longer.
The benefit of the Sunrise is that those 'seats' are actually flat cubicles of carpet in which you can lie down in, as opposed to a chair-style seat as on the bus or the shinkansen. (There's also an eating car for getting up and moving about a bit in.) Also, for those of us in Kagawa, we have to transfer from the Marine Liner to the shinkansen in Okayama. No such transfer is needed for the Sunrise Seto.
I had originally wanted to get one of the small, private rooms available on the Sunrise, but that is significantly more expensive - about 20,000 yen. Basically, you're paying for a (very small) hotel room that moves. I decided I'd rather hold onto my money.
Will decide if it was a good choice or not in the morning I suppose! Here is a really good post about it with pictures, although it should be noted that I don't have the Japan Rail pass, which is only available to international tourists.
Will be in Tokyo for a day, and then in Yokohama for three. Bringing my notebook but I'm not sure if I'll have wireless internet access, so posting may or may not occur. The hardest thing at the moment is trying to waste time until my train without of course getting so caught up in something that I miss it!