Sleeper Trains & the Blue Trains

The Blue Train era began in 1958, when the overnight limited express Asakaze between Tōkyō and Hakata was re-equipped with brand-new 20-series carriages. The 20-series was a landmark in Japanese rolling stock: the first passenger coaches built as a permanently coupled fixed formation. They were air-conditioned and finished in the blue livery that gave the whole genre its name. JNR went on to roll the concept out across the country.

Through the 1960s the network of named overnight expresses widened, and later sleeping cars followed — the 14-series and 24-series, the latter's 24 series 25 type arriving in 1974 with two-tier berths. The Blue Trains reached the peak of their popularity in the late 1970s, when they appeared in many novels.

From 1975, steep rises in fares and charges, together with the spreading Shinkansen, expressway and air networks, sharply reduced ridership on overnight trains, sleepers included. Over the following decades the Shinkansen, regional airports and expressway buses offered faster and sometimes cheaper ways to make the same journey. Ageing carriages and a shortage of overnight staff worked against the sleepers too.

In 2005, ridership on the sleeper trains running west from Tōkyō stood at around a fifth of the 1987 figure. The withdrawals then came in waves. The Sakura and the original Asakaze were discontinued in 2005; the Izumo followed in March 2006; and the Naha, Akatsuki and Ginga were withdrawn in March 2008. The Hayabusa and the Fuji, both bound for Kyūshū, made their final departures in March 2009. The Hokuriku ended on 13 March 2010, the Nihonkai was discontinued in March 2012, and the Akebono was reduced to a seasonal train on 15 March 2014.

The last of the great long-distance sleepers were the trains to and from Hokkaidō. According to JR West, the luxurious Twilight Express made its final scheduled runs on 12 March 2015, with departures from both Ōsaka and Sapporo. The Hokutosei, the celebrated overnight service between Ueno and Sapporo, ended regular operation at the timetable revision of 14 March 2015 and ran for the last time as a seasonal train on 22 August 2015. The Cassiopeia, a deluxe sleeper on the same Hokkaidō route, ended its regular service in March 2016.

A single conventional sleeper survived the cull. The 285-series electric multiple units, developed jointly by JR Central and JR West and introduced in July 1998, work the combined Sunrise Izumo and Sunrise Seto overnight limited expresses. They remain the only trains in Japan with sleeping accommodation in regular operation, the lone survivors of a once-dense web.

Yet the sleeper has been reborn at the opposite end of the market, as the luxury "cruise train". Rather than simply carrying passengers from A to B, these exist for the pleasure of the rail journey itself. JR Kyūshū led the way with Seven Stars in Kyūshū, a deluxe sleeping-car excursion train that entered revenue service on 15 October 2013. JR East followed with Train Suite Shiki-shima on 1 May 2017, and JR West with the Twilight Express Mizukaze on 17 June 2017.

• 1958The Blue Train era begins: the overnight limited express Asakaze (Tōkyō–Hakata) is re-equipped with new blue 20-series sleeping cars.
• 1974The 24 series 25 type sleeping car appears, with two-tier berths.
• 1975Steep rises in fares and charges, together with the spreading Shinkansen, expressway and air networks, begin a sharp fall in overnight-train ridership.
• 1978The Blue Trains reach the peak of their popularity in the late 1970s, appearing in many novels.
• 1989The luxurious Twilight Express sleeper enters service.
• 1998The 285-series sleeper EMUs enter service (July).
• 2005The Sakura and the original Asakaze are discontinued; ridership on sleepers running west from Tōkyō is by now around a fifth of its 1987 level.
• 2006The Izumo sleeper is discontinued (March).
• 2008The Naha, Akatsuki and Ginga sleepers are withdrawn (March).
• 2009The Hayabusa and Fuji, Kyūshū-bound sleepers, make their final runs (March).
• 2010The Hokuriku sleeper is discontinued (13 March).
• 2013JR Kyūshū's Seven Stars in Kyūshū, a deluxe cruise sleeper, enters revenue service (15 October).
• 2014The Akebono is reduced to a seasonal train (15 March).
• 2015Two icons end: the Twilight Express (final scheduled runs on 12 March) and the Hokutosei's regular service (timetable revision of 14 March); the Hokutosei's last seasonal run is 22 August.
• 2016The Cassiopeia ends its regular service (March), leaving the Sunrise Izumo / Sunrise Seto as Japan's only regular trains with sleeping accommodation.
• 2017Two more luxury cruise trains debut: JR East's Train Suite Shiki-shima (1 May) and JR West's Twilight Express Mizukaze (17 June).