Photos of Japanese trains I've taken on my trip

Back in 2015 we went on a 'honeymoon' to Japan. This was a life-long dream of mine, and luckily my wife enjoyed that idea too. The main purpose was obviously to see as much of the stuff I've only seen on internet and games, in real life. Trains were a part of this. I'm only going to post train and Plarail related photos here, but once I've finished posting all the photos on a personal blog site, I'll include a link as well.

Narita Keisei Skyliner - first train we've taken. Very basic, yet quiet and comfy. Great connection from the Airport into central Tokyo.


Iconic Yamanote train, from the iconic Harajuku bridge at Harajuku station


More Yamanote line train photos, this time taken at Akihabara station.
 

Nano-block Shinkansen set
 

Ginza line train (if I recall correctly, however yellow trains seem to be that line)


Taking the Yurikamome 'monorail' to Odaiba. Not really a monorail, but it's even called that on signs to the platform. Front row seats due to no driver present
 



Gaming Arcade at Odaiba, found some Densha De Go machines. Use to play those games back on the first PlayStation.


Next day we ended up on Tennouzu isle. This is serviced by a proper monorail line, going between Haneda airport and central Tokyo.
 

Another train on our way back. Not sure what these lines those were, and clearly my photographing skills were not very good
 

On the 6th day we had a trip outside Tokyo, but I've missed a lot of opportunities for nice pictures. I guess I was still overwhelmed with excitement of seeing all the places we visited. We went to the Honda Collection Hall near Motegi. Some photos from our way back to Tokyo.
          

7th Day was a trip to Hakone near Mount Fuji. Some pretty regular trains taking us there, but the ride up was in this cool thing. Some amazing views off the side of a cliff.



Not train-related, but one of my life-goals was achieved here, so need to post it here A ride in a 1st gen Honda NSX. Rented for 3 hours.
     

Next day we took a Hakone Touzan line, then the Odakyu RomanceCar back to Tokyo, and then a Shinkansen to Kyoto.
   
   
   
 


Local Kyoto train
 


After a few days in Kyoto we went to Suzuka Circuit and relocated to Osaka. Found some cool toddlers socks And stayed in a hotel overlooking a train station. Sadly not the best view of trains, just their roofs.
   

Next day was a trip out to Himeji. Shinkansen trains that don't stop there, pass the station at approx. 320km/h. Blink and you'll miss it, as I almost did.


It was then time to go back to Tokyo. So we took the faster connection, Nozomi service N700 covered by our rail pass. Took some photos of other N700s as we were passing some train yard. Arrived at our destination in a Toei Asakusa Line train, and on the way to the hotel found a cheap copy of the original Densha De Go for Playstation I still play it occasionally.
     

During the last few days we have concentrated on sightseeing so didn't take as many pictures as I'd like to. As a bonus, here's a photo of how I became a Shinkansen driver during one of our visits at Tokyo Station.


Few extra videos that I found on my private YT channel:
NEX Train passing station


Shinkansen trains departing and arriving at a station


15 days wasn't enough, so I went again in 2019. This time on my own and only 4 days, as I was going to a wedding to HK. Will post pics from that trip soon.

Hope you've enjoyed it!

Wow...you sure had a busy Honeymoon Bijo, thanks for sharing. Is that the 7000 LSE Romance Car ?. What did you think of it. I doubt I could get in and out of that small low Honda NSX.

Yes, the 7000 LSE we saw at the station but it wasn't our service. It looks cooler and is comfier inside, but we couldn't get a reservation for it. We've had the 50000 VSE booked as I wanted to get front row seats Very nice trains in general, quiet, clean, and with some amazing views out of the front window.

So many cool trains! Mind you, that was the time before I knew Plarail existed and before we had kids, so I've missed a lot of the train fever, as well as Plarail shops (that I have visited on the second trip).

I would love to browse those Plarail shops in person.

Ok second trip was in the summer 2019. I was going to a wedding in HK, so thought that I may as well go few days early and visit Japan again. This time went alone, so was free to visit all the shops I wanted. Essentially spent a day in Akihabara. Lots of Plarail, needless to say, but if I was going to buy everything I wanted I'd come back with a maxed credit cards  

Plarail display at one of the stations
  

View from my capsule hotel in Shinjuku, overlooking station with Yamanote-sen.


Plarail and Tomica shops at Tokyo Station.
  

   

Rest of the day in Akihabara going through loads of second-hand hobby shops. Majority of the stock was car models, but I also found some shops with Plarail. I didn't always feel comfortable taking photos of displays, so this is only a glimpse of what can be found there. This was where I bought the Yamanote train we run in our videos.
    

Was also looking for a PS4 copy of Densha de Go, but only found PS2 version with a controller. I was very tempted to buy it, but the size of the box would make it difficult to manage my luggage.
 

I had high hope for Nakano Broadway as a source for hobby stuff, but it was 99% car models. Still bought a few there for our Honda die-cast collection Basically a whole floor of a shopping centre dedicated to models, toys, anime, manga, and different memorabilia. Also found a great arcade with the latest installment of the Densha De Go series. Had a go and recorded a video, but need to upload those to YT first.
     

Some eki-bento that I wanted to grab and keep as a souvenir. Unfortunately I found out these sell out first thing in the morning, so they had no stock left in the afternoon


Taking the 'proper' monorail to Haneda. Two different trains spotted.
    

In HK only had one day for sightseeing and shopping around, but found one Tomica shop with another display. And a model of a high-speed HK train.

  

In hindsight, I wish I spent more time taking details photos of the stock available and their displays. I have a few videos that I need to upload to Youtube, but still I realise I could've done a lot more.

Oh well, a good reason to go back again in few years time, if and when the world goes back to 'normal'.

Very cool Bijo

The words 'Capsule Hotel' brings shivers of claustrophobia, how big small was it?

Were the prices reasonable for Plarail in the re-sale shops?