East Japan Railway is set to redefine luxury travel in 2017 with its top-class sleeper service “Train Suite Shiki-shima” that it has described as “cruise on land.”
To create some anticipation, it showed off models of the interiors of some of the cars. Carpeted floors, walls decorated with “washi” Japanese paper and lacquer latticework, and baths made of “hinoki” (Japanese cypress) give them a royal look. Rooms with sunken floors give the feel of a luxurious Japanese-style inn, Asahi Shimbun reported.
Interiors were reported to have been designed by world-renowned Kiyoyuki Okuyama, 57, who has also designed Ferrari cars.
Six cars in the luxury sleeper train will have a total of 17 rooms. Reporters were shown models of the interiors for two rooms: the Shiki-shima Suite and the Deluxe Suite. There will be only one of each of these rooms on the train and two passengers will occupy each of them.
Each of the two passengers in the Shiki-shima Suite will have to pay 950,000 yen ($8,940). The Deluxe Suite goes for 900,000 yen for each of two passengers, the report said.
Planned for a May 2017 launch, the train will depart and return to Ueno Station in Tokyo. A three-night trip will take in Nikko in Tochigi Prefecture, and Hakodate in northern Hokkaido.