A luxury train ride to Nikko, the resting place of the Tokugawa shogunate

South China Morning Post

04-07-2025

The sleek and slightly sci-fi Tobu Spacia X train, with its streamlined nose and large, hexagonal windows, ambles through the Tokyo suburbs and a tangle of other railway lines before eventually picking up a little speed.
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Heading into Japan's neat countryside, it slips between tree-covered hills with grids of small, orderly paddies lapping their bases.
This is no bullet train, such as those used by visitors on short-term trips to ricochet between
Tokyo and
Kyoto . But its comfortable carriages, in parts more like a living room on wheels than a conventional train, still reach the
shrine-covered mountain town of Nikko , 150km to the north, in under two hours.
Spacia X Limited Express by Tobu Railway running in Kasukabe, Saitama. Photo: Shutterstock
Japan is an increasingly popular destination for foreign visitors, but seats on the Spacia X are mostly snapped up by Japanese, and while parts of Unesco World Heritage-listed Nikko are busy, much is quiet even in holiday periods. Despite its tombs of shoguns and some of Japan's most startlingly ornate historic architecture, Nikko has little of Kyoto's congestion.
Boarding any of the services to Nikko from Tobu Railway's Asakusa Station, in Tokyo's Taito district, requires the purchase of a Tobu Nikko World Heritage Area Pass, which covers the basic rail fare. But the Spacia X, which has several morning departures, is a limited express service, requiring reservation and fare supplements, and seating comes in a surprising variety of prices for a train that's only six cars long.
Ordinary carriages are more comfortable than those on most other trains, but there's also a premium class with large reclinable seats, as well as box seats for two facing each other in partly screened-off spaces and private compartments.
The Cockpit Lounge on the Tobu Spacia X trains from Tokyo to Nikko offers sofas and armchairs and direct access to the snack bar, for which other travellers have to book a time slot. Photo: Peter Neville-Hadley
At one end there's the Cockpit Lounge, with sofas and comfy armchairs, and at the other, the Cockpit Suite, a large room with movable seating arranged around equally movable tables, bookable by groups of up to seven. Each has views out through the largely glass ends of the train to the front or rear.