If your image of Japanese railways is sleek bullet trains running with crisp efficiency at high speed, you probably won’t recognize the guest suite in the picture above, even though it’s in a Japanese railway car.
It’s one of the ten guest bedrooms on the Nanatsuboshi, marketed in English as the Cruise Train Seven Stars. Starting in the fall it will run 2, 3 and 4-day excursions on the island of Kyushu. The routes for the different itineraries vary, but all will include stops to tour along the way, just as cruise ships do.
The train will also have an onboard restaurant, tea room and a bar as well as shops and a lounge. Reservations for two per room are required; in effect, that’s a 100% singles supplement. While there are some relative bargains in the two-day itinerary, the four-day three-night itinerary goes for between about $10,000 and $13,000 per person.
