March

Now that the weather is getting better, we can start focusing on my favorite Tokyo pastime: Getting out of town.  There are actually more options to accomplish this than you would think. Sure, when talking about trains in Japan, people either think of the Shinkansen high-speed rail lines linking Japan’s major cities or the commuter lines in major cities, famous for their ease-of-use and convenience, if not for their sometimes crush load capacity. But there’s also one more class of service that slots in-between these two train types; the Limited Express class trains that serve more destinations than the bullet train network but are significantly faster than the bus, and have many different amenities and services aboard. They make getting out of Central Tokyo for a day trip easy and economical too. South towards Mt Fuji, Hakone & Izu If you’re heading towards Izu, your best bet is to ride the Green Cars on the JR Tokaido or Shonan-Shinjuku Lines south to Atami. These are the double-decker cars found in the middle of the regular trains and have a reserved seating surcharge, but also have the benefit of having a seat and snack service aboard a usually very crowded train.…