Riding Japan’s Unique Limited-Time Super Mario Express! 🚄🍄 | 2-Day Trip | Fukuoka Hakata | Oita

Riding Japan’s Unique Limited-Time Super Mario Express! 🚄🍄 | 2-Day Trip | Fukuoka Hakata | Oita

Today, I’ll be riding the limited-time Super Mario Express. I hope you enjoy this two-day Mario-filled journey. I’m at Hakata Station in Fukuoka. This time, I’m going to ride the limited-time “Super Mario Express,” a special collaboration between JR Kyushu and Super Mario! The Mario collaboration campaign runs from November 29, 2025, to June 30, 2026. Stamp rally events and hands-on activities are being held at stations across Kyushu. A Super Mario-wrapped train will also run as part of the campaign! The “Super Mario Express” is a special limited-run train operating only on November 29 and 30. It runs as the “Super Mario Express” only on those two days, and afterward, it returns to its regular train name. I’m excited to see what the train looks like! And today, November 29, a departure ceremony for the Super Mario Express will be held right here at Hakata Station! The route runs from Hakata to Oita. I was planning to join the departure ceremony and ride the Super Mario Express all the way to Oita, but unfortunately, today’s tickets were completely sold out… haha. Instead, I got a ticket for tomorrow, the 30th, so I’ll be riding it then! By the way, tomorrow’s Super Mario Express won’t depart from Hakata Station, but from Nakatsu Station in Oita Prefecture. So today, I’m going to check out the departure ceremony first! There are Marios all over the station! Fun fact about Mario: He’s said to be around 26 years old. 🍄 Since I’m not riding the train, I’ll go inside with an admission ticket. 150 yen. I wonder if they’re selling Mario-themed bento here. They all look delicious. Ah, it’s not the Mario one. Unfortunately, they didn’t have any Mario bento. LIMITED EXPRESS SUPER MARIO！ There was a photo panel inside the ticket gates! Fun fact about Mario: He’s an Italian-American from Brooklyn, New York. 🍄🍄 There are a lot of people gathered on the platform. Oh, that’s a hand flag! I want one! Got it! What’s going on? That’s…! That’s Mario and Luigi! Mario and Luigi are surrounded by reporters. The departure ceremony has started. The Super Mario Express is coming! Oooh! Everyone’s so excited! Let’s Go KYUSHU! The entire train is wrapped, and it looks really impressive! So many familiar characters! This car looks like a lava stage! This one looks like an ocean stage. The Super Mario Express only stops at the platform for five minutes, so it’s already time to depart… haha. Departing with the Super Mario Odyssey music. Since the stop was so short, I couldn’t really see much, so I’ll take a good look tomorrow! It was my first departure ceremony, and it really felt like a festival. That was so fun! 👋👋👋 👋🚩 There’s a Nintendo Store here at Hakata Station. Let’s check it out! My first time at a Nintendo Store! It just opened on November 14 this year. You needed a numbered ticket to get inside. I got a ticket for the 11 a.m. entry! As soon as you walk in, Mario welcomes you! So many Nintendo items! If you’re a fan, this is basically heaven. Inkling! By the way, I’m not very good at Splatoon… haha. PIKMIN! It doesn’t eat Pikmin. It eats your money instead. Gacha machines! Are the prizes controller buttons? Let’s try it! It plays the Mario coin sound when you put the money in! The mushroom sound! It’s a unique gacha machine! Isabelle! In Japan, she’s called Shizue. Link! I used to think Link was Zelda when I was a kid… haha. Ah, you! Banana peel! Do you know how many times you’ve made me slip…? Oh, Mario Kart! It’s so nice to play on such a big screen! 👏👏 A whole row of game titles is lined up here. Kirby! What’s got you so surprised? Oh, a classic game controller. This one… I have no idea what console it’s from. POV of a mushroom being eaten by Mario. haha Bullet Bill Chain Chomp This is…! An Animal Crossing collab electric kettle! I didn’t know this existed! I want it… “Just buy it.” That’s what Isabelle seems to be telling me. ・・・ ・・・ I bought it. haha Apparently, you get a gift when you spend more than 5,000 yen. I wonder what’s inside. I got a sticker too. Let’s open the gacha capsule we got earlier! It was a Super Famicom button! Here. An ornament! Let’s eat some ramen! Everything looks so good. I’ll go with this! Chicken Paitan Ramen (1,110 yen). It’s a ramen made by simmering chicken bones. The chashu is thinly sliced. Seasoned egg. The rich, creamy broth coats the noodles, and it’s really delicious! There was chicken in it too. That was delicious! It’s now November 30th. This is Nakatsu Station in Oita. I’m getting on the Super Mario Express from here today! It goes from Nakatsu to Oita, with all seats reserved. It’s an 81-kilometer route, and the trip takes 54 minutes. Apparently, Nakatsu is the hometown of Yukichi Fukuzawa. This is Yukichi Fukuzawa. He was on Japan’s highest-denomination bill, the 10,000-yen note. He’s the person who was on the bill before this one. Let’s head to the platform! I got another flag. The train is here! Hey, we meet again. The seats have a calm black color scheme. Here we go! Welcome aboard the Super Mario Express.
Thank you for riding with us today. This train is the Super Mario service bound for Oita. From here to the final stop, Oita Station,
we will guide your adventure together with Mario and his friends. Inside this train, Mario, his companions, and members of Bowser’s army are waiting for you in various places. Please explore each car and enjoy your adventure with Mario as you visit the different “stages.” If you find any mushrooms on board,
please be careful not to eat them. You may grow too big and
be unable to sit in your seat. Thank you for your attention. That was a pretty unique announcement! The Mario music just started playing inside the train! He’s really into it. The passenger area didn’t have any Mario wrapping or decorations. They gave me a commemorative boarding certificate! Watching the scenery go by while listening to the Mario music. So nice. The handles near the headrest are shaped kind of like Bowser’s horns. A small pocket. It’s so tiny… A seat pocket. The table is stored inside the armrest. A fan-shaped table. There’s no footrest, but there’s plenty of legroom and it’s really comfortable. Just a simple armrest. A headrest cover. There’s also a reclining button. Wait, this comes off? It looks like it’s attached with Velcro. A chessboard has appeared. I’m not really in a chess mood right now. haha It’s like an airplane overhead bin. There’s a large luggage storage area at the back of each car. The driver’s seat looks like a cockpit. It’s so cool. Let’s explore the train! This is the deck of Car 6. He’s about to reach the goal. Oh, a Question Block! What if I hit it? A light popped out! haha What about inside the restroom? As expected, there was no wrapping in there. The train is shaking like crazy. It’s probably under attack by Bowser’s army. Car 5. Bowser Jr.! A Bob-omb window. Danger. Bowser! It looks like Car 5 is Bowser’s army car. Car 4. It’s the ocean stage! You are… Car 3. Looks like it’s a normal stage. 🎵🎵🎵 Car 3 has a limited-edition gacha machine. Let’s try it later. Car 2. Yoshi! Maybe this is a phone booth area? You can talk on the phone with Yoshi watching. It looks like Car 1 is the Green Car. A free space. It looks like Car 1 doesn’t have any special wrapping. As expected from the Green Car, the restroom is really clean. I’m going to walk from Car 1 to Car 6! Fun fact about Mario: Bowser’s early design was inspired by a bull-like creature and looked very different from today’s Bowser. 🍄🍄🍄 Mario is recognized by Guinness as the best-selling game series. It has sold over 500 million copies in total. He’s also certified by Guinness as the best-selling video game character in history. My favorite Mario game is Mario Sunshine! It’s an older game, but it was really fun! Goal. Let’s try the gacha machine. The prize is a special JR collab can badge. Got Mario! Nice! That’s Beppu Bay right in front of us. So beautiful. I’ll be arriving at Ōita Station soon. Thank you for riding with us. This is the final stop, Ōita. Please make sure you haven’t left anything behind. Bowser says that any lost coins, stars, or items will all become his. I got to hear another funny onboard announcement at the end! OITA All the Mario wrapping on this train is actually one connected course! Did you notice? It starts with the grassland course. There are Piranha Plants, Koopa Troopas, and Goombas. Go through the red pipe and it takes you to the ocean stage. There are Cheep Cheeps, Bloopers, and others. The ocean stage is pretty long. Going into the blue pipe and heading to the next stage! Next is the lava stage! This is the boss stage where Bowser is waiting! Maybe this is Bowser’s Castle? The lava stage always feels difficult. Beat Bowser and head into the green pipe! Back to the grassland course… And there’s the goal flag! That’s a fun design! It’s time to say goodbye. Thank you! It looks like there’s a Mario event happening in front of Oita Station, so I’m going to check it out. A Mario-filled trip. It’s on. A Mario Galaxy experience corner. That looks fun! 👏👏👏 Let’s go get something to eat! Oita is famous for its toriten! Toriten set meal (946 yen). That looks so good! Toriten is chicken tempura. It’s so tender and juicy! So good! Once I finish eating, I’m heading to a place called Takasakiyama. It’s a spot where you can observe wild Japanese macaques up close! Toriten tastes great with mustard too. That was delicious. Takasakiyama is about 20 minutes from Oita Station by bus. It’s actually pretty close. Found the sign! Ticket: 500 yen. The monkeys on this mountain are wild, so they’re not kept in cages. That means you can really see them right up close! Oh! Found a monkey! Hey there. Whoa. So close! So cute!! Oh, so many monkeys. The staff are telling us all kinds of things about the monkeys. Are they grooming? Fighting? Looks like they’re just playing. It’s feeding time! Whoa, they’re all coming together! There are two groups of monkeys on this mountain, Group B and Group C. The monkeys coming down the mountain right now are from Group B. Group B has about 584 monkeys! They’re not eating the food right away, but storing it in their cheeks like squirrels or hamsters. Apparently, they eat it slowly later. I didn’t know monkeys had that kind of behavior. Looks like they’re eating to me. haha Apparently, their faces are red because it’s breeding season. This monkey is the leader of the group. Whoa! Apparently, that behavior was a kind of proposal! But it failed. He chose the wrong partner. This monkey is 24 years old, which is like being in his 70s in human age. So apparently, a 70-year-old grandpa monkey just proposed to a teenage monkey. That’s pretty bold. Haha. He’s playing on the swing. Oh. He got his swing taken. You can also see Beppu Bay from here. Hm? ！？ I just got knocked into. haha You’re not supposed to make eye contact with the monkeys. They might see it as a threat and attack. So children, who tend to make eye contact, need to be careful. Little monkeys fighting? Or are they just playing? So cute. Thank you for watching until the end. If you enjoyed the video, please consider subscribing or leaving a comment.

A collaboration event between JR Kyushu, one of Japan’s railway companies, and Super Mario called “Let’s Go Kyushu” began on November 29. 🎉
To go along with the event, a limited-time Mario-wrapped train has appeared! 🚄🍄

This wrapped train will operate on multiple routes until the end of June next year.
However, it was operated under the special name “Super Mario Limited Express” only on November 29 and 30 as a temporary service. ✨
I went to ride this special two-day-only service myself!

Limited Express Sonic (Hakata – Oita / Saiki)
Limited Express Kirameki (Hakata – Kokura / Mojiko)
Limited Express Relay Kamome (Hakata – Takeo-Onsen)
Limited Express Midori (Hakata – Sasebo)
Limited Express Kasasagi (Mojiko / Hakata – Hizen-Kashima)

On January 17 and 18 next year,
the “Super Mario Limited Express” will operate again as a temporary service between Oita and Miyazaki. 🚄🍄

If you enjoyed the video, please consider liking, subscribing, or leaving a comment. 🌟

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00:00 Opening
01:09 Day 1: Hakata Station
04:34 Super Mario Express
06:48 Nintendo FUKUOKA
13:10 Day 2: Nakatsu Station
14:21 Boarding the Super Mario Express
27:49 Oita Station
30:20 Takasakiyama Monkey Park

#japantravel #supermario #trainvlog