On 20th December this year, the Tokyo Station turned 110. To mark the anniversary, JR East ran a special Nagomi train between the gateway of Tokyo with Ito in Shizuoka Prefecture the following day, using a E655 series trainset. The E655 series is a 5-car special luxury charter trainset that can also double as an Imperial train by inserting a specialized bullet-proof Imperial carriage called E655-1.
Today, two new Fuxing bullet train prototypes, the CR450AF and CR450BF, debuted in Beijing. At a planned operating speed of 400km/h, it will be faster than the current Fuxing CR400AF and CR400BF trainsets, which operates at only 350km/h. According to CRRC, the manufacturer, the CR450 series reached a test speed of 450km/h while setting new international benchmarks on various KPIs such as operational speed, energy consumption, interior noise, and braking distance.
UPDATE 20 AUG 2025: As of today, both trains are no longer in operation. Also, JR Central had started operating Japan's 3rd Disney-themed Shinkansen using the N700A Series on the Hikari/Kodama services on the Tokaido Shinkansen. The train, entitled "Wonderful Dreams Shinkansen", will operate from 21 February 2025 to mid-September 2025.
On December 22nd, 2023, in partnership with Tokyo Disney Resort (TDR), JR East commenced operations on a special train called "Magical Dream Shinkansen", which utilizes 10-car set J69 of the EMU JR East E2-J (E2-1000) series. Its exterior is decorated with Mickey and Minnie mouses, as well as their friends. In addition, these characters are wearing special costumes to celebrate TDR's 40th anniversary. Unlike the name suggests, the train does not run directly to Tokyo Disney Resort. Instead, it runs between Sendai and Tokyo stations, where commuters are required to change to the Keiyo Line to get to Maihama, the nearest station next to TDR. This train operated until 31st March 2024.
UPDATE 24 AUG 25: The Osaka Kansai World Expo had started on 13th April and it's ticket sales exceeded the breaking even point with 18.09 million on 11th Aug tickets despite sluggish ticket sales before the opening and during the first few weeks. Source from the Japan Times and NHK. Also, beforehand, on 14th July, an air show was held as the Exposition hit its 10 millionth visitor mark.
Time flies, as the year 2024 will come to an end in less than 2 weeks time. As 2025 is nearing, I would like to share something important about an event that will in Japan, which is the World Expo. The World Expo will be hosted in Osaka on a new reclaimed island called Yumeshima, with pavilions showcasing exhibitions from 60+ different countries, as well as some major Japanese companies like Bandai and Mitsubishi. The theme of the Expo 2025 will be "Designing Future Society for Our Lives"
As part of the celebrations that Osaka Japan get to host the World Expo for the third time, the first being Expo 1970, several railway companies are preparing for the event by decorating some of their trains with the EXPO 2025 wrapping to promote the event and build excitement and awareness among its population. The Expo 2025 will take place for 6 months from opening on 13 April 2025 to closing on 13 October 2025.
This blog post is going to talk about what I recommend among the recent releases of Plarail products. Plarail is a brand of toy trains that were made by Tomy since 1959. It has been very popular among Japanese children because it has a variety of toy trains made based on real-life Japanese trains, which can be played by constructing different layouts and scenery parts.
In this post, I am going to show you the recent lineup of Plarail products since March 2024. As this year was Plarail's 65th anniversary and Takara Tomy's founding centenary, some products may bear the 65th anniversary logo as part of the box packaging, while one of them will bear the 100 logo.
April 2024
Product 1: 100のレイアウトがつくれる！ドリームレールキット (100 Layout Dream Rail Set) (LAYOUT SET)
Today, I would like to share two upcoming releases of Plarail trains and parts. Recent months saw a variety of special releases, be it rolling stock or rail sets being released due to Plarail's 65th anniversary and Takara Tomy's 100th anniversary. Also, there are a few releases of Plarail Real Class line of toy trains made based on retired Japanese trains as well as Landscape Color Rail Kits based on seasons of the year.
Japan - 1 October 2024
As the 1st October is approaching soon, the Tokaido Shinkansen line will turn 60 this year as it has been operating since 1964. As part of the celebrations for the world's first high speed line, JR Central hosts numerous events, such as a ride on the Doctor Yellow and the Linear Chuo Maglev L0 Series. Also, JR Central released a special logo designed by Noritake Suzuki just for the 60th anniversary as shown in the first picture below.
This year, as it is the 30th anniversary of the operations of Kansai International Airport, it is also the 30th anniversaries of the rail links to Kansai Airport, which are operated by JR West and Nankai Railways. Nankai Railways. JR West operates the Haruka Limited Express and the Kansai Airport Rapid & Direct Rapid services while Nankai operates the rap:t Limited Express and the Airport express services.
As part of the 30th anniversary celebrations, a special ceremony was held on September 7, 2024. The special ceremony greetings in front of Rapi:t and Haruka on JR Platform 3 at Kansai Airport Station, followed by a ribbon-cutting, then with some performances and talk shows. In addition to the special ceremony, there will be various events hosted by 3 companies as part of the 30th anniversary campaign.
1 August 2024
Today, Takara Tomy, the company behind the famous brand of toy trains called Plarail, just released information about its new products for September release. Plarail toys are very well known among Japanese kids because they are made from real-life Japanese trains, be it from JR Group, private railways, as well as subways.
As the 60th anniversary of the opening of Tokaido Shinkansen is nearing, Takara Tomy had slated three new products related to the Tokaido Shinkansen for the September release. Personally, I am very pleased with the new variety of products for the September release, especially to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the opening of the world's 1st high speed rail line. The following are the products that I would like to recommend for train otakus like myself.
Product 1: 新幹線開業60周年記念 0系新幹線ひかり1号＆超特急ひかり号セット (Shinkansen 0 Series Double Set)
Product 2: 新幹線開業60周年記念 新幹線 N700S Wチャイム仕様 (Series N700S with Chime Sound)
Since August 28 this year, Amtrak, the national rail operator of the USA, debuted the NextGen Acela train along the Northeast Corridor at 5:...
