The Sunrise Express is a pair of overnight sleeper trains, Sunrise Seto and Sunrise Izumo, jointly operated by JR Central and JR West. Sunrise Seto runs between Tokyo and Takamatsu while Sunrise Izumo runs between Tokyo and Izumo. Both these limited express trains are coupled together for a portion of the journey, and then decouple at Okayama station where they travel separate routes for the rest of their journeys.
My husband loves taking sleeper trains so he was super excited about putting this on our itinerary. However, the train apparently only makes a stop at Osaka when travelling towards Tokyo (ie. no stop at Osaka when travelling away from Tokyo). Since we wanted to stay within the Tokyo and Kansai area for this trip, we had no choice but to fly into Osaka just for this train ride!
- Inclusions:
- Limited Express tickets for Sunrise Seto Single Room (not inclusive of base fare tickets)
- Spent: JPY21320 (for 2 pax)
Naturally, the first order of business was to buy our tickets but this was unfortunately easier said than done. Specific information in English about ticketing is rather scant online. From the hours of research, I gathered that the base fare (this gets you the nobi-nobi seat type) is covered by the full JR Pass, but I couldn’t find which other types of JR passes also cover this base fare. This would eventually become one of the many hurdles to us getting on the train.
Furthermore, many online forums mention that it’s not possible for foreigners to pre-purchase tickets and that the only way is to be physically in Japan to buy them at the station, with tickets being released a month in advance. Thankfully, I found one particular Reddit thread that said otherwise and it even included the official JR website for purchase. A ray of hope at last!
Then came the toil of navigating the website and figuring out how to get the room we wanted. Being a stickler for privacy and comfort, I was hoping for a private room at least (check out the room types here and a guide here if you’re eyeing the prized Sunrise Twin Room). This required camping on the website 1 month before our date of travel as these private rooms get snapped up really quickly. Tickets are released at 10am Japan Standard Time, which is 9am in Singapore.
When it came time to make the purchase, I selected the “Sunrise Seto Single” option but it was all sold out. Bummed but not giving up, I tried clicking around and eventually selected the general “Sunrise Seto” option, which somehow showed availability for Car B Single rooms! However, it only allowed me to buy tickets one at a time (I couldn’t select more than 1 pax). I hurriedly did so and finally scored us two regular Single rooms, albeit in separate cabins but we’ll take it! I highly recommend playing around with the ticket options beforehand to familiarize yourself with the process (someone posted a rough guide on which options get you which room types but it may not be 100% accurate as ours wasn’t any of those permutations).
Do note that you can buy a ticket with or without the base fare included. As we already had our JR Hokuriko Arch Passes, we happily thought we’d be covered and got ourselves the tickets without the base fare (more on this mix-up later).
Our Sunrise Seto train was scheduled to leave Osaka station at 12.34am and arrive at Tokyo station at 7.08am. Coming all relaxed from our bath and rest at Rinku-No-Yu, we thought things would be smooth-sailing from here on out, that all we needed to do was board our train. Alas, when we eventually got to the station, we were informed that our JR Hokuriko Arch Passes didn’t cover this route and that the base fare to fork out per person was JPY8910! So unless you’re sure that your specific JR pass covers this route, I suggest getting tickets that include the base fare just to be safe.
After overcoming all these hurdles, finally stepping onto the train was a major success in itself! The train was slightly delayed that night so we boarded around 12.38am. We then began exploring our rooms and the various cars in the Seto section (ie. Cars 8 to 14), which were undoubtedly very clean and cosy. We were unable to cross over to the Izumo section (ie. Cars 1 to 7) though as there was no connection between Cars 7 and 8.
Inside, the corridors and rooms are very narrow, with some having a lower ceiling height than others, which can potentially feel a little claustrophobic. My husband’s room (Car 14 Seat 27) had a curved window while mine (Car 12 Seat 11) was a regular one, and both our rooms allowed us to catch the direct sunrise (: Each room came with a pillow, a blanket, a yukata, a pair of slippers, a disposable cup and a trash bag. The bed and pillow were very firm, even for my standards. I didn’t try on the yukata but my husband who did remarked that it felt scratchy. Nevertheless, I found it sufficiently comfortable for a short overnight stay.
The rooms are also equipped with light switches, a heater knob to control the temperature and a clock with an alarm you can set. If you’re getting off at Tokyo station like we were, it is unlikely that you’ll miss your stop as there will be ample announcements to pre-empt you.
In almost all the Japanese train videos I watched, it seemed like a thing to bring bento boxes to eat aboard, so that’s what we decided to do. However, because our boarding time was at such an unearthly hour, we couldn’t find any open shops selling those classic train bento boxes. As such, we ended up settling for food from 7-11, which was still pretty decent. There are vending machines onboard selling drinks but not food, so it might be a good idea to bring your own snacks in case you feel peckish during the journey.
Shower facilities can be found in Car 10 but you need to purchase a shower card for about JPY320-330 (limited quantities available) from a card vending machine first. As these shower cards sell out fast, I recommend that you head straight to buy one the moment you get on the train if you do plan on taking a shower onboard.
Each shower card gives you 6 minutes of water (definitely not enough for me, lol). Soap, shampoo and a hairdryer are provided but you will need to bring your own towel.
Fortunately, there is less competition for the use of the toilets and sinks for washing up as these are more readily available across the different cars. The ones I saw were clean and well-maintained as per Japanese standards.
All passengers can access an open lounge area in Car 10 with views on both sides should they want to escape their cramped quarters. It does look much more inviting in the morning with the sunlight streaming in.
From our rooms, we were able to watch the skies change colours as the sun began to rise, absolutely mesmerizing. Additionally, we caught sight of some elderly folk in a park waving earnestly at the train as it passed by, so endearing ❤
Disembarking at our destination, it was truly a surreal sensation that we actually made it there. I just wished I’d gotten more sleep along the way!
Here are some extra nuggets of information and maps for those of you who are interested. I have labelled the car maps to the best of my memory (hope I didn’t get them jumbled up!).
If you’re selecting a base fare nobi-nobi seat (in Car 12) and intending to charge your devices, note that power plugs can only be found across the tiny walkway near Seat 4B/5A, as well as Seat 1A. Their usage is also on a first-come-first-serve basis.
My overall rating of the experience: 4 out of 5 stars. It was a cool experience to finally ride on Japan’s only regularly-scheduled sleeper train! As expected, the spaces were wonderfully tidy and hygienic (always a huge plus) but also rather compact. The lounge and shower facilities, as well as the in-room amenities, were certainly sufficient for a brief overnight stay. Do note that there is a limited supply of shower cards for purchase should you want to use the shower facilities. Given that our rooms were randomly allocated, we were super thankful that we were both on the side of the train that allowed us to catch the glorious sunrise (: I later popped into my husband’s room to soak in these leisurely morning moments and admire the picturesque scenes with him. With that said, it was really difficult to get tickets for the private rooms – not just because they were limited in quantity and the demand for them seemed perpetually high, but also because the JR website itself wasn’t the most intuitive to navigate. The lack of clarity in the online ticketing process was unnecessarily frustrating indeed.
If this post helped you in some way and you’d like to buy me a coffee, I’d be incredibly grateful (:
Dania Experiences 