From a luxurious, multi-day adventure through Peru to a short hop across the border from Switzerland to Italy, these rail routes all have one thing in common — towering mountain views.
A rail adventure in Kyushu: onsen, homestays and sweet treats along Japan's Sugar Road
23.10.2023 - 09:43 / nationalgeographic.com
The shoji screen door slides closed behind me. The room is sun-dappled — paper door and latticework walls letting light in while keeping prying eyes out. My shoes have been spirited away and the tatami floor is cool underfoot, its summer-hay scent hanging in the air. The rush grass used for the flooring, I’m told, comes from neighbouring Kumamoto Prefecture. The latticework carpentry forming the walls and arched ceilings are Okawa Kumiko style, originating in Fukuoka, which is where I currently find myself. Although not for much longer. At the blow of a whistle, this room will soon be on the move. The delicate confection of paper, wood and grass is, in fact, inside a train.
A white-gloved guard gives the signal, and we’re off. All aboard the 36+3, a luxury black-and-gold-trim train inaugurated by the Kyushu Railway Company in 2020. Operating on five routes around Kyushu, it’s the vision of Eiji Mitooka, the industrial designer responsible for a host of heritage trains that crisscross Japan’s third-largest island on sightseeing itineraries. Subtropical at its southern reaches, Kyushu is the southernmost of the country’s four main islands, almost closer to South Korea and Shanghai than Tokyo. Until 2004, when they became stops on the Shinkansen bullet train network, Kyushu’s ports and airports were better connected to Taiwan and mainland Asia than much of Japan. And it wasn’t until 2022 that the bullet train started operating in Kyushu’s far-western reaches.
The Shinkansen might offer a speedy connection to Tokyo, but Kyushu’s comprehensive local rail network demands you slow things down. And with fares in the 36+3’s standard-class carriages — almost as ornate as my first-class compartment — costing little more than a commuter train ticket, it’s an accessible luxury. First-class dining, though, is worth paying extra for. Lunch brings an extravagant bento box, courtesy of chef Shugo Nagaoka, from Michelin-starred Nagaoka restaurant in Fukuoka — slivers of Wagyu beef from the surrounding Saga Prefecture, floral scrolls of lotus and taro root, and a rainbow of sashimi, drawn from local waters. Framed in a bamboo box, it’s almost too beautiful to eat. Even the soy sauce is exquisitely presented in a tiny dish from the nearby town of Arita, the birthplace of Japanese porcelain.
I pass up a glass of local sake in favour of some green tea — Kyushu is one of Japan’s main producers; it was first introduced to the country by a Chinese Buddhist monk passing through the island in the 12th century. But when the train makes a sightseeing stop at the town of Hizen Hamashuku, the fermented rice beverages are harder to resist. Along its Sake Brewery Street, preserved houses from the Edo era (1603 to 1867) — all
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