Hokkaido Luxury Coaches

[Jeff Smith]

...or carriages, if you will: soranews24.com

Beautiful Red and Blue Star luxury trains set to be Japan’s new Hokkaido travel stars

Hokkaido is Japan’s largest prefecture, and the Shinkansen only reaches a tiny corner of it. So more so than anywhere else in the country, if you’re traveling in Hokkaido, it’s best to adopt a “It’s the journey that’s important, not the destination” kind of attitude.

Thankfully, the abundant beautiful natural scenery of the Hokkaido helps make this easy to do, and it’s going to be getting even easier with a pair of beautiful new luxury travel trains coming from JR (Japan Railways) Hokkaido.

Dubbed the Red Star and Blue Star, the brightly colored trains are actually refurbished Kiha 143-class carriages, which in their ordinary form look like this.

The Kiha 143 was retired from service last year, but rather than just scrapping them all, JR Hokkaido is using four cars each for the Red and Bue Star trains, upgrading them with posh amenities and fixtures for a more luxurious riding experience. Here’s a standard Kiha 143 interior…
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