Day 4 In Japan : From Nowhere Back To Akita

We were back to KL since last Saturday already and yet, my trip report is only up to Day 4. Haven't been posting anything new since last Friday due to a sucky broadband connection at my home so I apologise for the almost non-activity.

This is a continuation from our previous post about taking the Resort Shirakami Buna train from Akita to Aomori.

Taking the Resort Shirakami train from Akita to Aomori earlier, we then decided not to continue on to Aomori  but instead alighted at Hirosaki station and catch the Akebono sleeper train instead, which according to schedule would be leaving a few minutes after the train we were on arrives at the same station. Only in Japan do we dare to do this, based on train's schedules because they are sooooo punctual.

 Taking the Akebono train from Hirosaki back to Akita

Akebono sleeper/night trains travel from Ueno Station in Tokyo all the way to Aomori and the whole journey takes about 13 hours,  with stops along the way.

Equipped with couchettes, private rooms and  this so called "Goron to Shito" seats, which are basically couchettes without blankets, but are categorized as seats and can be used for free with the Japan Rail Pass or JR East Pass; which was the one we bought. There is one "Goron to Shito" women only car.

Private rooms and couchettes on the train cost 20,000yen and if you have Japan Rail Pass/JR East Pass the room cost 9,500yen.

For us, we opted to reserve our seats on the  "Goron to Shito" seats because we won't be paying anything extra (read: free for us) as holders of JR East Passes. The seats were perfectly comfortable for us;

each seats were provided with a pair of yukata, a pillow and a hanger. Not too shabby, right?

and a pair of slippers to walk around in

Mom! I need my privacy!!!

Raimie in his seat. The curtains can be drawn together to provide passengers some degree of privacy. It was fun for us taking this night train. We walked up and down the train's corridor, checking out the private berths and watching yukata wearing passengers walking past us, some were brushing their teeth and preparing for a good night's sleep.