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SOON. (Literally — I'm flying into Narita this week.) #JohnDoesJapan

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*in the voice of that “omigod SHOES” viral video from, erm, probably 20 years ago now* trains trains trains omigod trains let’s ride some trains #JohnDoesJapan

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you must become the hello kitty marshmallow if you are to overcome the hello kitty marshmallow

A Hello Kitty marshmallow, perfectly formed, melting in a cup of matcha latte, in a way that can only be described as lovecraftian, as if she is staring blankly at the sky as the “Ia! Ia! Cthulhu fhtagn!” echoes around the coffee shop

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and then there are the amazing limited express trains that are losing their big comfortable green cars with panoramic front windows, 381 Series I miss you #JohnDoesJapan

The front car of a Japanese Limited Express train standing at the station. It has a panoramic front window. Inside are large squashy brown green car seats delivery is beige with a thicker stripe of burgundy and a thinner stripe of turquoise.
It has a 1980s aesthetic, sort of like a Chevy Lumina minivan.

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ugh* there are SO MANY adorable little railways and rural lines in Japan, how am I going to find time to visit them all in a lifetime *this is such a me problem, I fully realise

A small blue and white electric railcar sits at a station

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Planning my next #JohnDoesJapan trip (SOON!) and came across this glorious timelapse from the Toyoko Inn in Maibara, one stop east of Kyoto. That's the Fujitec elevator testing shaft there next to the Shinkansen line, in case you were wondering, at the Fujitec-Mae stop on the local railway.

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Genuine question: I've never vibed with #Osaka, and I want to! Your recs please, but not: • Dotonbori • the castle • shopping • takoyaki, Kansai okonomiyaki, kushikatsu • skyscrapers • generic "Japanese city" • stuff available elsewhere in Kansai Wide View Hida (RIP) vid as thanks! #JohnDoesJapan

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As of March, at least once I got to the non-Schengen bit, there were no letters in the wayfinding there. (It is really rather nice in there now, with a nonsensical number of luxury shops, but also some genuinely nice places to sit, and a superlative Star Alliance lounge.)

Okay, this actually makes more sense than I initially imagined — you have to take a) Schengen/non and b) CDG expansion plan letter reserving into account here. Here's my best murderboard attempt to explain it.

A bit of an annotated Google Maps satellite annotated murderboard of what I suspect the logic is behind the new CDG terminal numbering and gate lettering. IDK, blind pals and friends with visual impairments, I can barely explain it with a full rainbow of colours and annotated maps, drop me a DM and we'll set up a call to walk you through it

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The next city on that loop north of Kushiro is Abashiri, home to Sea of Okhotsk iceflows and, as a result, this weird blue can't-legally-call-it-beer drink. There's a great yakiniku barbecue/beer place in town where you can try it — or grab one from the station convenience store. #JohnDoesJapan

Three tasting sized beers: one dark, one BLUE, one pale ale sort of coloured.

A bunch of different beers, including some in weird colours like green, red, pink and blue.

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The Senmo Line isn't exactly smooth, as Japanese trains go, but it *is* stunning. It's part of a gorgeous several-day scenic loop you can do around much of Hokkaido that I highly recommend. #JohnDoesJapan

Look, I told you I had a lot of this shot… Kushiro is also a great jumping-off point for the *incredible* Senmo Line up north through the Kushiro Shitsugen National Park! It's a beautiful wetland (that's Japanese for "swamp") where the tsurumaru (iconic red-crested cranes) breed. #JohnDoesJapan

A similar shot out the front window of a train down a single-track line as a few photos ago, but this time it's sunny.

I stayed a couple of nights in Kushiro, which is so small that it doesn't even have a Toyoko Inn next to the station. (It *does* have a Toyoko Inn, but it's down the main street, so I stayed at the Route Inn.) It was like this for most of the time, but the seafood was *delicious*. #JohnDoesJapan

So long, Higashi-Nemuro. I wonder what happened to your "most easterly station" board. #JohnDoesJapan

Slightly wider shot of the Higashi-Nemuro platform. It's wood with white rusty railings. The standard rusty white sign in hiragana, kanji and romaji is supplemented by a Japanese-language post with lat-long on it that, I presume, says "most easterly station", or at least I see the kanji for "east" on it.

Anyway, here's what Higashi-Nemuro looked like when it was a station. (Look, between you and me, I'm not entirely surprised they closed it since our one-car diesel train passed it at full speed.) #JohnDoesJapan

A shot of a small wooden platform that does in fairness look rather temporary, with a vertical white-on-blue hiragana sign that reads "Higashi-Nemuro". Beyond are rather forlorn looking houses in the mist above green weeds on a small hill

Electronic departures board, no. Beautiful ikebana traditional Japanese flower arranging in front of a diesel railcar, yes. #JohnDoesJapan

A considered and aetherial ikebana display, with a few fronds and two flowers emerging from an inverted cone pot, in a Japanese railway station.

Anyway, back in 2017 Nemuro wasn't *quite* the easternmost station. That went to Higashi-Nemuro — East Nemuro — which closed in 2025. Back then, there were five trains a day from Nemuro itself. No need for an electronic departures board. #JohnDoesJapan

Three tracks at a station narrowing to one, which ends a few hundred metres away. A Japanese sign that looks like it says "Japan's most easterly station" or something, with lat-long and stuff on it.

The terminal station sign for Nemuro, with the next station down the line being Higashi-Nemuro

Six daily departures on a sign, which looks printed or on posterboard. A clock shows it's 1325, with the next departure at 1333.

I can't tell you the number of photos like this I've taken over the years, with views through these front windows from all across Japan. At some point I should make a coffee table book out of them or something. #JohnDoesJapan

A shot through a misty, wet front window down the narrowgauge track into the cloud. A building looms on the right, a turnout to the left for a station in the centre.

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There's just something about the sound of a rural diesel train, the movement (especially on the narrow Japanese gauge of 1067mm), the slow travel views out the window… And, of course — as the great Dolly Parton once sang — the clickity, clickity, clickity-clack. #JohnDoesJapan

It is, as you might say, atmospheric out here in the marshes on a wet May day. But you'll still find me at the front of the train looking out the front at the single track, even if there's a rail safety person there in his natty hi-viz harness. #JohnDoesJapan

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There are very few Japanese trains I don't love. But a rural single-unit diesel railcar, marked wanman (that's Japanese importing the words "one man" for "driver-only operation) — these are some of my absolute favourites. This KiHa 54 sits just behind my all-time fave, the KiHa 40. #JohnDoesJapan

A brushed steel 1980s-looking diesel railcar with a red stripe on the front and sides.

Interior, same railcar. the seats are flip-forward/back padded benches in 2-2.

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Anyway, we are off to Nemuro, as you can obviously read from the station departures board. The service is… shall we say not exactly clockface? That's our train, over at the platform.

Japanese station interior, a departure board with a couple of trains, and a silver diesel railcar at the platform beyond.

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That's like National Cat Day being on February 22, or "ni ni ni", like "nyan nyan nyan" — Japanese for "meow meow meow". As this handsome ormj floof inside my favourite Tokyo cat cafe would, I'm sure, be happy to explain.

a fluffy orange cat with white toes looking skeptical inside a cat cafe

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Let's visit Japan's easternmost railway station! We start at the industrial port city of Kushiro, in late May 2017. See "Station Diner 946"? Japan loves doing this: 946 is kyu-shi-roku, which shortens to something rather like "Kushiro". #JohnDoesJapan

A four-storey brick station with a large taxi forecourt, and a "Station Diner 946" sign.

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Never let it be said that I am not an absolute ham. Nor that I am not better at MarioKart arcade version than @airlineflyer.net. 💅 #Bowser4Lyfe #JohnDoesJapan

An arcade mariokart winning screen with my photo pulling an uwu finger face in the Bowser frame in first place, and Jason's face looking sad under a… I'm not entirely sure what character? A Mars Attacks brain? frame in second place.

In the restaurant floors at the top of the easternmost tower of the Nagoya station building is a Starbucks. It has this view. A #JohnDoesJapan must-visit.

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A #JohnDoesJapan tale… @airlineflyer.net's and my subsequent visit to Utsunomiya, Japan's gyoza capital, in three photos.

A table filled with five plates of gyoza and one steamer of soup dumplings

A very fuzzy photo of a stone statue of a gyoza mascot, a person with a gyoza for a head

Oh yeah, this was the #JohnDoesJapan trip, before I spoke as much Japanese as I do now (still not a lot!) and before camera-translate worked well, where @airlineflyer.net and I went to a ramen restaurant and I managed somehow to order a meal without any actual ramen

a table with two meals on. One is a plate of ramen with gyoza next to it. one is a plate of just ramen toppings, no ramen, with gyoza next to it.

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this is just a list of things that i am during a #JohnDoesJapan trip, really #concentrated #grapeful #sparkling

A grape soda where the English just says "concentrated", "grapeful" and "sparkling"

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Choo, choo, it's the sound of the SL RETRO USUI STEAM LOCOMOTIVE #JohnDoesJapan

A happy belated Bi Visibility Day to all Shinkansen who celebrate! #JohnDoesJapan

Two doubledecker E4 Shinkansen in white-pink-purple livery, connected at the nose, underground at Ueno station.

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You might not know this about travelling to Japan, but when the baggage staff put your bags on the belt? The handle is always facing you, the customer. #JohnDoesJapan

A bunch of bags on a baggage carousel, all with the handle facing the passengers.

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Sorting through some #JohnDoesJapan photos (from nearly ten years ago, lolsob). Still marvelling at this Sapporo departure for Tokyo of a 375-seater Boeing 777-200 in high-density domestic configuration, scheduled for boarding to take 15 minutes.

Airport gate sign, gate 12.

BOARDING SOON: Tokyo
Time (departure): 1200
Current timestamp: 1148
Boarding at: 1145

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Those places might include: • a convenience store, some of which have chairs and counters for eating and drinking • a shared indoor or outdoor food court area • a train with little tables, like a Shinkansen or this 1970s-tastic KiHa 183 Series Limited Express train

A very brown and beige, overhead strip lighting Japanese train with seats in 2-2

I think the main generator of jApaN hAs nO tRasH cAnS is the (largely western and I think mostly UK/US?) habit of eating/drinking while walking. Japan very much does not share this habit! Buy a thing, eat/drink it there *where there are bins*, or take it somewhere made for eating/drinking.

Looking over a good dozen or so commuter rail lines in Tokyo, with some skyline beyond.

I did *not* have to delve very deeply into my #JohnDoesJapan folder of Japanese train pictures to find a Shinkansen, long-distance or even medium-distance train platform with bins.

Two Shinkansen connected at the nose at a platform, with another Shinkansen behind them. On the platform is a trash can.

I do also love his faint bemusement at the constant jApaN hAs nO tRasH cAnS advice for visitors to carry a rubbish bag at all times. I share it. I can't remember a time in Japan where I just… spontaneously generated rubbish and was not at, say, a convenience store or train station or hotel?

A small green one-car KiHa 100 diesel railcar sits at a Japanese train station in north Japan.