-
We take a ride on Seibu Railway’s futuristic luxury liner: the Limited Express Laview
投稿日 2021年5月27日 10:00:09 (ニュース)
-
続・お知らせ。海外セレブゴシップ&ニュース
-
お知らせ
-
We spot the legendary dekotora Aki Kannon, dedicated to actress and singer Aki Yashiro
-
New Pokémon GU collaboration dresses all the family, including babies for the first time
-
How do European Cup Noodles taste to a Japanese palate?
-
We’ve been doing it wrong – Japanese genius shows us how we should all be making sandwiches【Pics】
-
The future is now with full face sunglasses
-
Natto-infused ramen is a thing — we tried it, we love it【Taste test】
-
Jellyfish and Halloween in perfect harmony at Sumida Aquarium event
-
Japanese toilet paper collection opens our minds as we open our butts
-
Aomori police on the lookout for man shouting unsolicited advice at kids about dating and ramen
-
Former Arashi members Sho Sakurai and Masaki Aiba get married… Wait, that didn’t come out right
-
Creator of Japan’s longest-running manga, Golgo 13, passes away, leaves fans one last gift
-
Crazy cheap cosplay at Daiso? How to transform into Dragon Ball’s Vegeta at the discount shop
-
7 Halloween-themed afternoon teas you won’t want to miss this year
-
Krispy Kreme Japan creates doughnut burgers that are a meal and two desserts all in one【Photos】
-
Get in the damn drift car, Shinji? Evangelion Tomika toy brings D1 machine home in miniature form
-
Demon Slayer Nichiren Blades ready for new duty: Slicing through your sweets as dessert knives
-
Man in Japan arrested for breaking into ex-girlfriend’s apartment to steal her Nintendo Switch
-
The Japanese Internet chooses the top too-sexy-for-their-own-good male voices in anime
-
First-ever Studio Ghibli x Russell Athletic range pays homage to My Neighbour Totoro
-
Super Nintendo World at Universal Studios Japan announces first expansion with new Donkey Kong area
-
Cup Noodle pouch satisfies our never-ending need for instant ramen
-
Retro Japanese train is our new favourite office space
-
How do Japanese fans feel about Netflix’s live-action Cowboy Bebop opening sequence?
-
We try Uniqlo coffee at first-ever cafe inside Ginza flagship store
-
The number of elderly people in Japan this year has yet again smashed multiple records
-
Mr. Sato broadens his home drinking horizons at Kaldi【Japan’s Best Home Senbero】
-
We try Japanese Twitter’s newest trend the Penguin Egg, end up hatching something very disturbing
-
Takoyaki makers surprisingly good at grilling meat for yakiniku too
Sponsored Link
The recently added train feels like a blast into both the future and the past!
Stretching from the shopping hub of Ikebukuro in central Tokyo all the way out west and north to the small, rural city of Chichibu in Saitama is the Seibu Railways Ikebukuro Line (which turns into the Chichibu Line after Agano Station). On a regular train, that ride to Chichibu would take about an hour and 45 minutes, and even longer from Tokyo or other stations, but luckily, Seibu Railways has an express train for that, and it now comes with futuristic luxury!
The limited express train known as Laview was instated for regular use on the Seibu Railways Ikebukuro Line in 2019, and it quickly became popular among train otaku for its futuristic design, which “looks almost like a space ship”. We’ve been wanting to ride it for a while now, and so we were excited when we managed to catch it after completing some business at Hanno Station, which is about three-quarters of the way to Chichibu from Ikebukuro.
In addition to the regular train fare, it cost an extra 500 yen to ride the Limited Express train from Hanno to Ikebukuro (the price is different depending on how far you’re traveling, of course), but we considered it worth the price for the experience. The look of the train, from the pictures we’d seen, had us pretty excited to ride it!
Tickets in hand, we proceeded to the Limited Express platform, where the Laview was waiting patiently for its passengers. One of the unique things about this train is its huge glass windows, which are 1.35 meters tall and 1.58 meters wide (4.4 by 5.2 feet). They’re enormous! But we also liked its mustard yellow seats. Very stylish.
We were excited to get on, but of course we had to check out the front of the train first.
It looked like a space pod, or a time machine, or something out of a sci-fi film! It was beautiful, almost like a shooting star. That got us even more excited to get on.
In the boarding zone, the walls were painted in the same yellow as the seats, and the floors were made of synthetic marble, which looked very fancy. Seeing this, we could understand why this train won the Blue Ribbon prize from the Japan Railfan Club in 2020. And after this eye-catching entrance….
Sponsored Link
More yellow! But better than that, the car was extremely well-lit thanks to its large windows. It was a very clean and simple train interior, but we liked the look of it. Some soft indirect lighting added to the futuristic feel of the cabin, but we couldn’t help but feel the seats actually had a slightly retro feel to them as well.
The seats were a soft, plush design that really lets you sink in, like a couch. The fluffy seat covers were luxuriously comfortable. We found it nice that the height of the pillow was adjustable, and we also appreciated how much room there was between the seats. And to think we only paid 500 yen for this luxury ride!
However, there was one thing that bothered us. Though the rest of the car was pretty empty, the seats all around ours were full! You can’t choose your seat when you purchase your ticket at the ticket machine, so we suspect that maybe the machine just fills up the seats in order. Still, having a bunch of people in plain old business suits filling the seats around us really took away from that futuristic feel.
But that’s really the only fault we could find with the Laview. In fact, it was overall a very pleasant, comfortable ride. The train was super smooth, so it was easy to get some work done.
The seat tables were quite large, so there was plenty of room for our laptop. There were AC outlets to plug our chargers into, and there was even WiFi (which requires you to sign up using your e-mail address).
But it’s only a 40-minute ride to Ikebukuro from Hanno, so there wasn’t much time to work after getting settled and set up. We were just thinking it might be time to put away the laptop and take out our lunch when we glided into Ikebukuro Station, and our little adventure was over in the blink of an eye.
With a sigh, we gathered our things and exited the train. Though we appreciated the faster trip, we almost wanted to ride it for longer. Now we completely understood why the Laview got its name: “(L)uxury living spaces, (a)rrow-like speed, and a (view) from the enormous windows”. We decided to make a point of riding it again!
Images © SoraNews24
● Want to hear about SoraNews24’s latest articles as soon as they’re published? Follow us on Facebook and Twitter!
Source: SORA NEWS24
Sponsored Link
最新情報