Visiting Japan’s HIGHEST altitude station! – [HIGH RAIL 1375]

Visiting Japan’s HIGHEST altitude station! – [HIGH RAIL 1375]

This week, we’ll be journeying deep into the mountains of Nagano Prefecture on one of Japan’s most scenic trains with mountain views, a planetarium library on board, and Japan’s highest elevation station. Join me as we ride the train that runs closest to the sky, the Hyrail 1375. Hey guys, it’s Roland here and today I’m in Kopuchi Zawa station and today I’m going to be riding the high rail along the Comey line which has nine out of the 10 highest altitude stations in all of Japan. I’ve got to say the viewpoints from this station are pretty incredible. They have a cool observatory here on the roof and that’s where I am right now. And the angles around here are amazing in every direction. The trip hasn’t even started and this is already pretty cool. And look at that. There’s our train just coming into the platform now. We’ll have to make our way over there in a couple minutes. And there it is, the higher rail 1375. So, it actually gets its name from the highest altitude station. This 1375 is in 1,375 m at the tallest station it crosses. Like I mentioned earlier, nine out of the 10 tallest stations in Japan are on this one line itself. So, this runs along the Comey line, which really connects from nowhere to nowhere, and it goes across a bunch of huge mountains. I think that’s what makes this line so incredible. Getting our train shots, of course. That’s pretty cool. This is actually a diesel train. You don’t see too many of those in Japan. Looks like here’s a little bit of a infograph and a map of the uh route we’ll be taking today, including all the altitudes of the different stations that we’re going to cross. Looks like just for fun, they threw in the Tokyo Sky Tree as a as a quick comparison. Of course, that’s going off sea level, so it’s not quite the accurate assessment, but still, it’s pretty cool to see this map here. Looks like these are some more points of interest along the way. Just going inside the waiting room here. With our ticket in hand, we board the train, making our way through the carriage, immersing ourselves in the starry realm before settling into our seats, ready to embark on this scenic adventure. All right, and here we are on board the High Rail 1375. This is already looking like a super cool train. It’s got a cool starry space theme to it, of course, cuz they do run one actually at night where you get to do star viewing. They stop it at a certain station. You get off and then you get to look at the sky. They also have an observatory along the way, too. And the reason it was built there is because the clear skies they often get here in the mountains. So, it’s cool that the whole train is kind of themed like that. At the station, I also picked up a bento so we can enjoy that along the way, too. Today, our journey will begin in Kobuchi and take us through the stunning highland scenery of Yamanashi and Nigano while also getting breathtaking views of the Yatsugadake mountain range. We’ll be making a brief stop at Noyama, Japan’s highest station, giving us the chance to step off and absorb the views and some crisp mountain air before continuing on through mountains, valleys, rivers, and more, reaching our final station of Sakoda after a total of 2 hours and 2 minutes. Today we’re riding on a converted Kiha 110 and 100 series train built by Migata Teco and Fuji Heavy Industries which is now known as Subaru. Often known for serving some of Japan’s most rural areas, these trains were first delivered back in 1991. Then in 2017, they were refurbished by the Nagano General Rolling Stock Center to become the high rail as we know it today. Next stop ahead is Noyama Station. All right, here we are. Noyama station. This is Japan’s highest station in terms of altitude. Now, fun fact, it’s actually not the highest point on the line. It was actually just a little bit earlier there. I did get the chance to film the marker as we were passing by, but it’s only a little bit higher than the station itself. Overall, look at the view of the station. It’s incredible. You got mountains on every side. We can even head out there as well. That is a crazy landscape there in the background. Everyone has their camera out right now taking pictures, but I can see why. It is definitely a lot cooler up here than it was at the first station. Maybe even by like 10 or so degrees. I’d say it feels like 65 right now. What is interesting and kind of surprised me is that if you look around, all the trees still just barely have their leaves. You can see everything’s still just blooming. All the flowers are just coming out. It feels like we’re still a whole season behind up here. We have 15 minutes to explore this area before the train leaves. So, I’ll walk around a little bit more. I’ll include some shots here and there, and then we’ll head right back onto the train. Here’s a view of the station itself. It’s actually cool in the main lobby. If you use your flash and you look up at the ceiling and take a photo, you’ll see the stars and everything. Pretty cool little waiting room. And there’s our train sitting there. Looks like everyone else is also getting photos here from the front, so I will as well. All right, it’s getting close to that time, so let’s head back on board. Here’s a quick view of the other rail car on this train. This is what you see when you first look up the train. It’s sort of the pinnacle of what makes it the hide rail. They use a little projector for all the stars and stuff. This is super sweet. And with that, we departed once more, heading into the second leg of the journey. Let’s check out the gift shop that they have on board. I feel like there something. And now you already know it. Time to do the bathroom review. All right, guys. Here with the toilet review. Not bad. It’s a little more narrow than the other trains, but it’s still super classy and nice. The rest of the journey continues with new types of scenery unfolding outside the windows. Some familiar and others completely new. As the high rail 1375 winds its way forward, we continue from the forested hills into the mountainous highlands of central Japan. Each passing moment offers a new glimpse into the quiet charm of the countryside. Now again All right, there we go, guys. That was the high rail. That was quite a lot of fun. Honestly, overall, it actually kind of surprised me how interesting the whole experience was. I mean, even just from the train itself, being a diesel locomotive to all the different exhibits they had on board, plus stopping there halfway and getting off of the station was really neat as well. And start to finish, the trip was only two hours. So I think that was just about the right amount of time. I would say even the views were quite interesting as well. There’s quite a big variety between the meadows, rivers, and mountains and everything. And even here at our final station, which is Sakura Dai, I mean the view you can still see is incredible. You have you have mountains in every single direction here. And especially on a clear day like today, the high rail was the perfect choice. Anyways guys, thanks for watching. It’s time to head back to Tokyo. So, hope you guys enjoyed and I’ll see you guys in the next one. Peace. Here’s a little bonus footage at the end. I like how the way this hallway is decorated. It’s all about the high rail. It’s got photos of it, banners. There’s a lot of glare. Super cool hallway. I like that.

We’re visiting Japan’s highest altitude station – Nobeyama Station!
Sitting at 1345 meters in the Nobeyama Highlands, at the eastern foot of the Yatsugatake Mountains in Nagano Prefecture. We’re riding the “High Rail” – a train with a plantetarium on board and a stargazing service at night. Come along on this amazing sightseeing train.

Tags: Trains japan, Joyful Trains, JR Trains, JR Japan.