I recently met a blogger who only updates once a year, and realized I’m the same: updating last year’s stuff this year.

A few years ago, I took a northbound train trip and fell in love with this retro way of traveling.

Last year I went to Kyushu in Japan, a paradise for railfans. Kyushu is a fairly large island in western Japan, with varied landscapes: volcanoes, grasslands, hills, sea, fields, forests… From south to north, many distinctive JR Kyushu “D&S trains” run across it.

Transportation in Japan isn’t exactly cheap, but fortunately foreign travelers can buy the JR PASS, a rail pass. Let’s see how much value I squeezed out of JR Kyushu with a single Pass.

First Love: Two Stars 4047

ふたつ星 4047

People say your first time leaves the deepest impression, so my bias toward Two Stars 4047 is perfectly justified. No matter what I rode afterward, this one remained the great white moonlight of them all.

The train runs between Takeo Onsen in Saga and Nagasaki, heading out in the morning and returning in the evening, looping around the Nagasaki Peninsula in northwestern Kyushu. Large stretches of the route have sea views, and they’re gorgeous.

What drew me even more, of course, was the train’s design, created by JR Kyushu’s star designer Eiji Mitooka. The pearl-white body and golden Two Stars logo are as easy on the eyes as the coastal scenery.

The three-car train was converted from older cars once used for the Hayato no Kaze and Isaburo services. Japan’s design trains seem to become Ships of Theseus through constant rebuilding like this.

Inside is a car called Lounge40, a shared lounge space. From the wooden window latticework to the intricate floor patterns, the classic benches and lighting, it’s hard for a first-time passenger not to be wowed.

The panoramic floor-to-ceiling windows at the scenic seats on either end of the passenger cars are especially good for just sitting there and spacing out.

Several stations along the way are full of character too. The departure point, Takeo, has not only old, inexpensive hot springs that are actually great, but also a small-town library designed by Shin Miyahara—unexpectedly tiny and delightful.

Before boarding, buy a Saga wagyu bento, a local specialty, then dig in once the train gets moving. Utterly drool-worthy.

At Hizen-Hama Station, local residents put on a small welcome event and sell local specialties on the side. With the train only stopping a few times a week, it’s probably one of the town’s little gathering moments.

The Japanese really know how to package tourism—how to work wonders within a tiny space, how to make a lot happen within tight constraints. There’s real craft to it.

What I remember most, though, is the final stop: Nagasaki. The weather was beautiful that evening. I walked along the long harbor in the sea breeze, watched the sunset from the roof of the art museum, then quickly joined a local ballgame happening downstairs. The memory of that afternoon feels almost unreal in how good it was.

Tip: the outbound and return routes of Two Stars 4047 are different. In the morning, it runs along the east coast of the Nagasaki Peninsula, with welcome activities like the one at Hizen-Hama Station. In the afternoon, it follows the west coast, where you can catch the sunset over the sea.

The Journey > the Destination: Yufuin no Mori

ゆふいんの森

The most important thing in life isn’t the destination, but the scenery along the way. That saying really does apply here.

Lots of people ride this train to visit Yufuin, but Yufuin itself is honestly a rather boring destination: an artificial Taisho-style town, basically Japan’s version of Zhouzhuang or Xitang. Unless, of course, you’re into some combination of the following: hot springs, desserts, Snoopy, and trains.

Departing from Hakata Station every day, Yufuin no Mori has three runs, with slightly different trainsets. One goes to the seaside hot spring city of Beppu and uses the Yufuin no Mori I set; the other two use the III set.

The I set feels more retro, while the III set is a bit more ordinary in design. Can you tell which one is the I set?

With its green forest-themed exterior, raw wood and brass interior accents, and the swaying plus clickety-clack at the car connections, it casually pulls you into an old-fashioned dream of train travel.

The I set also has a special dining car with near-panoramic glass. As the train slowly passes through the forest just before reaching the end, the feeling of being surrounded by green makes the “Mori” in its name feel completely deserved.

A Kyushu Scenic Blockbuster: Aso Boy!

あそぼーい！

Where did Yufuin no Mori II go? It turned into Aso Boy!

As the most popular family-friendly train, Aso Boy! was so in demand that even I almost couldn’t get a seat. And not for nothing: the little play area alone makes it worthwhile, plus there’s a staff member dedicated to entertaining the kids.

The train’s design is inspired by its mascot, Kuro. Supposedly there are 101 little Kuros hidden throughout the train, though I have no idea whether anyone has ever found them all.

Whether it’s the parent-and-child seat designs, the little private compartments, or the decorative details, everything is full of childlike charm.

Most striking of all are the scenic seats at the front and rear of the train. Because the driver’s cab is on the upper level, the lower level gets the best views.

It feels like a giant-screen nature documentary, showing off Kyushu’s rural scenery without holding anything back. The stretch approaching Beppu, especially where sea and sky blend together, is unforgettable.

Aso Boy! departs from Kumamoto, stops at Aso Station, and arrives in Beppu. Mount Aso is also a popular attraction, and fitting in a short hike along the way is a lot of fun too.

No Such Thing as Too Luxurious

36+3

If you were ranking Kyushu’s trains by luxury, the untouchable Seven Stars in Kyushu would take first place, while the local-cuisine-focused Kanpachi Ichiroku and the dessert train Aru Ressha would be close behind. After those comes 36+3, whose fare is still relatively manageable.

36+3 is basically a super-upgraded version of Two Stars 4047, and it’s also an Eiji Mitooka design. This time the exterior uses black livery with a gold emblem, which looks impressively upscale.

Inside, the design is both more elaborate and more expensive.

This time the shared lounge uses an elegant, understated palette—would you call it blue-and-white porcelain tones? It feels more open and airy than the lounge on Two Stars.

There are two standard seating cars: one with floor seating and the other with tatami seating. The seat layout and overall design both feel beautifully refined, and even the luggage racks are full of thoughtful little details.

Two more cars are exclusive to the “36+3,” with everything from airy glass-partitioned compartments to cozy family mini-suites to fully private rooms. Every luxury-train fantasy I had while watching Murder on the Orient Express came true on the “36+3.”

The “36+3” departs from Hakata every Thursday, travels just a short stretch each day, and takes five days in total to make a full loop around Kyushu. Along the way are 35 little stories from places across Kyushu, plus the traveler themself—that’s where the name comes from.

The designer’s original intention was to create a train that carries all of Kyushu’s local character and human warmth.

I rode the Monday route, the Golden Route, and returned to the Nagasaki Peninsula once again. The difference this time was that the final stop was Sasebo. On a rainy day in Sasebo, I spent a lovely afternoon at a tiny coffee shop run by a son carrying on his father’s trade. That, too, counts as one of my own little Kyushu stories.

Bird-phobes, beware: Kawasemi Yamasemi

かわせみやませみ

On the way back from Aso to Kumamoto, I took another train. My first reaction after boarding was that my friend, who has a serious bird phobia, probably wouldn’t even make it through the door.

Kawasemi Yamasemi has only two cars, designed around two wild birds that roam the Hitoyoshi Basin. One car is the kawasemi, and the other is the yamasemi. Yes, those two little guys right there.

Because there are so few cars, the interior is designed quite compactly. A bar counter in the middle connects the two cars, while both sides are lined with lively sightseeing seats made from locally sourced cedar and cypress from along the route.

As we passed the Kuma River, mountains, valleys, and rivers flashed by outside the window in a blur of green. The Hitoyoshi Basin is ringed by high mountains, much like my hometown of Wenzhou, where even building a simple route for travel in the old days was no easy task. At that moment, “Kawasemi Yamasemi” weaving through the mountains felt just like birds flying home to their hills.

Unfortunately, “Kawasemi Yamasemi” stopped regular operations in March of this year, and from now on will only make occasional surprise returns.

Other favorites of mine

せんせい

Sometimes a name alone is enough reason to ride a train. With a red body reminiscent of Mt. Aso, it departs from Beppu and cuts through central Kyushu, putting one of the very best stretches of Kyushu scenery on full display through this window.

I saw the morning in the Fukuoka countryside through another window. Setting out early from Hakata, with the sun slowly rising beside me and lighting up the whole carriage, felt like the best possible start to a day.

Besides these, there are three more design-themed trains in southern Kyushu: the jazz-themed A-Train, plus Ibusuki no Tamatebako and Umisachi Yamasachi, both famous for their sea views. I’ll save those for another time, if our paths cross again.

Finally, let’s do the math

お会計をします

One North Kyushu JR Pass 5-day pass: ¥15,000 yen (it went up to ¥17,000 yen this year):

Two rides on Yufuin no Mori, ¥11,380; Two Stars 4047, ¥4,680; Aso Boy!, ¥5,000; 36+3, ¥2,170; Kawasemi Yamasemi, ¥2,910; Kyushu Odan Tokkyu, ¥3,370; Relay Kamome, ¥2,880; plus several other shinkansen and intercity rail rides, ¥22,560 yen.

That comes to a total of ¥55,000 yen worth of train tickets, all ridden for roughly a quarter of the price. Is the Kyushu JR railway bureau crying yet?

The only catch is that I spent 5 whole days on trains, which made me wonder: was I traveling in Japan, or traveling on Japan’s trains?

TIPs:

Even if the JR Pass reservation website shows limited availability or sold out, there’s no need to panic—actual inventory is often still plentiful. You can monitor seat availability through JR’s domestic Japan website instead, without paying the extra 1500 booking fee;

Because many of the scenic seats on these trains have to be reserved in person, it’s worth writing out the trains you plan to ride in advance. Once you land, heading straight to the station can often bring a pleasant surprise;

The only truly ultra-popular segment is the Kumamoto-to-Aso stretch for Aso Boy! and Kawasemi Yamasemi, which is worth booking in advance.

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