Japan bullet train review: Okayama to Matsuyama scenic train ride across the Seto Inland Sea

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The train: Japan RailRoute Okayama to Matsuyama (the island of Honshu to Shikoku)Distance 215 kilometres; two hours and 41 minutesOperator Japan RailClass Ordinary (reserved/non-reserved)Frequency Up to 36 express train connections each day.The journeyThe city of Matsuyama’s revered hot springs, Dogo Onsen, is one of the oldest in Japan.iStock

This rail journey begins in Okayama – the capital city of the eponymous prefecture in western Japan, about 215 kilometres southwest of Kyoto – and is bound for Matsuyama, capital of the prefecture of Ehime on Shikoku, the smaller of Japan’s four main islands. Okayama is famed for Korakuen, rated among the three leading gardens of Japan, while Ehime is beloved throughout Japan as the nation’s “citrus kingdom”, especially for its mikan mandarin oranges. Matsuyama is also home to Dogo Onsen, one of Japan’s oldest hot springs. Okayama’s main station is, like most Japanese railway stations, more functional than decorative, but it’s worth arriving here well before your train’s departure for a perfectly appetising reason.

Food + drink

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Half the fun of Japan’s ekiben is choosing your preferred option from the huge variety on offer at most stations.Alamy

Directly across from the platforms inside Okayama station is a huge store selling an enormous variety of ekiben. These are quality and affordable meals, or bento boxes, served in takeaway boxes and sold at railway stations, large and small, throughout Japan. The act of selecting your ekiben is enjoyable in its own right as you pass from counter to counter, admiring the choices and agonising over your final decision. Nowadays, it’s doubly important to purchase an ekiben before taking a Japanese train as the traditional onboard trolley food and drink services of the past have been sadly discontinued on many routes.

The carriageA train, styled after Japan’s popular Anpanman cartoon character, awaits passengers at Matsuyama Station.Alamy

Content with my ekiben choice, I board the train for this service, one of the most scenic in Japan, to Matsuyama. Not long after departing Okayama the train passes across the 13-kilometre-long Great Seto Bridge – a massive, double-decked engineering feat – spanning the Seto Inland Sea and connecting the islands of Honshu and Shikoku.

The train between Okayama and Matsuyama crosses the 13 kilometres-long Great Seto Bridge.iStock

The ever-offbeat Japanese have a propensity for theming their trains, even their shinkansen (bullet trains), around famous cartoon characters. This particular train between Honshu and Shikoku celebrates Anpanman, a character from a Japanese children’s story from the late 1960s. The main character has an anpan, a red bean paste filled pastry, for a head (this, after all, is a country obsessed by food as much as it is trains). This is no doubt, a lot of fun for junior passengers except for the fact that the majority of the passengers are grown-ups. Oh well, it’s this precise sort of kookiness that makes Japan such a unique and delightful destination.

Even the padded seats aboard Anpanman-themed trains feature images of the cartoon character.AlamyBaggage

It wasn’t all that long ago that Japan received relatively few foreign tourists. Trains, therefore, were designed for Japanese travellers with minimal amounts of luggage. That means there’s usually little stowing space in carriages, but somehow everyone makes do, including the Japanese who themselves seem to be travelling with larger-sized baggage these days. Do check on luggage limits when booking, though, as they’re sometimes enforced by conductors. If you do have large suitcases it is possible on some trains to book, at the rear of carriages, the last row of seats which have some space for luggage directly behind them. Then again, there’s always takkyubin, the Japanese word for the remarkably reliable, affordable and widespread service that allows for pieces of luggage to be dispatched by road between hotels, and certain other locations, allowing for easier rail travel.

The price

A one-way ticket for this journey costs between $50 and $70 and can be purchased at the station before travel or online. A Japan Rail pass (far less of a bargain than it used to be) can also be used on this route. If booking online, a good site to use is Japan Bullet Train which, despite the name, allows reservations for reserved and non-reserved seats on slower express trains such as this one between Okayama and Matsuyama. See japan-bullettrain.com; japanrailpass.net

One more thing…Japan’s shinkansen bullet train celebrating the Hello Kitty character finally reaches the end of the line this month.AP

After eight years of service, speaking of Japan’s cartoon character-style trains, the nation’s Hello Kitty shinkansen will come to the end of the line later this month. However, a brand-new shinkansen, emblazoned with characters from the Super Mario franchise, has already been fast-tracked and is in service.