The was a

sleeper train The sleeping car or sleeper (often ) is a railway passenger car that can accommodate all passengers in beds of one kind or another, for the purpose of sleeping. George Pullman was the American innovator of the sleeper car. The first such cars ...

that formerly operated between

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

and Ōita in Japan. Operated by the

Kyushu Railway Company The , also referred to as , is one of the seven constituent companies of Japan Railways Group (JR Group). It operates intercity rail services within Kyushu, Japan and the JR Kyushu Jet Ferry Beetle hydrofoil service across the Tsushima Strait ...

(JR Kyushu) and classified as a

limited express A limited express is a type of express train service. It refers to an express service that stops at a limited number of stops in comparison to other express services on the same or similar routes. Japan The term "limited express" is a common ...

service, it was discontinued from the start of the revised timetable on 14 March 2009.

Route

The train was coupled with the ''

Hayabusa was a robotic spacecraft developed by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) to return a sample of material from a small near-Earth asteroid named 25143 Itokawa to Earth for further analysis. ''Hayabusa'', formerly known as MUSES-C ...

'' sleeper between

and

Moji Station is a railway station on the Kagoshima Main Line and the Sanyō Main Line, operated by Kyushu Railway Company in Moji-ku, Kitakyushu, Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It ...

. The ''Hayabusa'' separated at Moji and continued to Hakata and

Kumamoto is the capital city of Kumamoto Prefecture on the island of Kyushu, Japan. , the city has an estimated population of 738,907 and a population density of 1,893 people per km2. The total area is 390.32 km2. had a population of 1,461,000, ...

. The 1,240 km Tokyo-Ōita run took just over seventeen hours, leaving Tokyo at 18:03 and arriving in Ōita at 11:17. The return service left Ōita at 16:48 and arrived in Tokyo at 09:58."JR Timetable" August 2008 issue

History

Pre-World War II

The ''Fuji'' began as a long-distance daytime service in 1912, although the train did not receive a name until September 1929. It was one of two long-distance services on the Tōkaidō-Sanyō corridor. The other train on the route, named ''Sakura'', was aimed at middle-class travelers, while ''Fuji'' had higher-class rooms, dining cars serving Western food and a "Momoyama"

observation car An observation car/carriage/coach (in US English, often abbreviated to simply observation or obs) is a type of railroad passenger car, generally operated in a passenger train as the rearmost carriage, with windows or a platform on the rear of th ...

. ''Fuji'' and ''Sakura'' were the first named trains in Japan. ''Fuji'' services originally operated between Tokyo and

Shimonoseki Station is a railway station on the Sanyo Main Line, operated by West Japan Railway Company (JR West) in Shimonoseki, Yamaguchi, Japan. Kyushu Railway Company (JR Kyushu) and Japan Freight Railway Company (JR Freight) services also use this station. The ...

. Connecting ferries were available from Shimonoseki to

Pusan Busan (), officially known as is South Korea's most populous city after Seoul, with a population of over 3.4 million inhabitants. Formerly romanized as Pusan, it is the economic, cultural and educational center of southeastern South Korea, ...

Korea Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...

, from which passengers could connect to train services bound for China, Russia, and even Europe. In November 1942, service was extended to

Nagasaki is the capital and the largest city of Nagasaki Prefecture on the island of Kyushu in Japan. It became the sole port used for trade with the Portuguese and Dutch during the 16th through 19th centuries. The Hidden Christian Sites in the ...

, from where ferries were available to

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...

. ''Fuji'' services were suspended in April 1944 due to Japan's deteriorating situation in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

Post-World War II

The ''Fuji'' name was briefly used on a

Shinjuku is a special ward in Tokyo, Japan. It is a major commercial and administrative centre, housing the northern half of the busiest railway station in the world (Shinjuku Station) and the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building, the administration ...

- Kawaguchiko service (

Chūō Main Line The , commonly called the Chūō Line, is one of the major trunk railway lines in Japan. It connects Tokyo and Nagoya, although it is the slowest direct railway connection between the two cities; the coastal Tōkaidō Main Line is slightly faste ...

) in 1950, but did not return to the Tokaido corridor until 1 October 1961, when the ''Fuji'' service resumed as a daytime limited express between Tokyo and

Kobe Kobe ( , ; officially , ) is the capital city of Hyōgo Prefecture Japan. With a population around 1.5 million, Kobe is Japan's seventh-largest city and the third-largest port city after Tokyo and Yokohama. It is located in Kansai region, whic ...

using 151 series EMUs. After the

Tokaido Shinkansen The is a Japanese high-speed rail line that is part of the nationwide Shinkansen network. Along with the Sanyo Shinkansen, it forms a continuous high-speed railway through the Taiheiyō Belt, also known as the Tokaido corridor. Opened in 1964, ...

opened on 1 October 1964, the ''Fuji'' became a Tokyo-Ōita sleeper service using 20 series sleeping cars. Between 1965 and 1980, the service was extended to Nishi-Kagoshima Station, becoming the longest train service in Japanese history: the Tokyo-Kagoshima run took over 24 hours (departing Tokyo at 18:00 and arriving Nishi-Kagoshima at 18:03). From 1980 to 1997, the ''Fuji'' operated between Tokyo and Miyazaki (

Miyazaki Station is a JR Kyushu railway station located in Miyazaki, Miyazaki Prefecture, Japan. The central station of the prefectural capital is served by the Nippō Main Line connecting Fukuoka Prefecture and Kagoshima Prefecture. The station opened on Dece ...

Minami-Miyazaki Station is a railway station in Miyazaki City, Miyazaki Prefecture, Japan. It is operated by of JR Kyushu and is the junction between the Nippō Main Line to in the southwest and the Nichinan Line to in the south of Kyushu. Lines The station is ser ...

). Dining car service was discontinued from March 1993. JNR EF66 019

From 1 March 2005, the ''Fuji'' was combined with the ''Hayabusa'' service between Tokyo and Moji, following the discontinuation of the ''

Sakura A cherry blossom, also known as Japanese cherry or sakura, is a flower of many trees of Prunus, genus ''Prunus'' or Prunus subg. Cerasus, ''Prunus'' subg. ''Cerasus''. They are common species in East Asia, including China, Korea and especia ...

'' service which previously operated in conjunction with the ''Hayabusa''. Finally, the ''Fuji'' was discontinued in its entirety from the start of the revised timetable on 14 March 2009, due to declining ridership.

Rolling stock

The train was formed of 14 series sleeping cars based at JR Kyushu's Kumamoto Depot, typically consisting of six cars in the ''Hayabusa'' portion and six cars in the ''Fuji'' portion. The train was hauled by a JR West

Class EF66 The is a six-axle, three-bogied ( Bo′Bo′Bo′) DC electric locomotive designed for fast freight used by Japanese National Railways (JNR) and later operated by its descendants JR West and JR Freight. , 39 locomotives remained in service, all ...

electric locomotive between Tokyo and

Shimonoseki is a city located in Yamaguchi Prefecture, Japan. With a population of 265,684, it is the largest city in Yamaguchi Prefecture and the fifth-largest city in the Chūgoku region. It is located at the southwestern tip of Honshu facing the Tsushim ...

, a JR Kyushu Class EF81-400 electric locomotive between Shimonoseki and Moji (through the undersea Kanmon Tunnel), and by a JR Kyushu

Class ED76 The is a Bo-2-Bo wheel arrangement AC electric locomotive type operated on passenger and freight services in Japan since 1965, originally by Japanese National Railways (JNR), and later by Hokkaido Railway Company (JR Hokkaido), Kyushu Railwa ...

electric locomotive from Moji to Ōita."ＪＲ新幹線＆特急列車ファイル" (JR Shinkansen & Limited Express Train File), published 2008 by Kōtsū Shimbun

Gallery

File:Fuji Train6.jpg, Beds (March 2009) File:Fuji Train5.jpg, Passageway (March 2009) File:Fuji (Japanese sleeper train) B1-class Car Entrance.jpg, Entrance of a car (November 2008) File:Fuji (Japanese sleeper train) B-class Car Washstand.jpg, Washstand (November 2008) File:Fuji (Japanese sleeper train) B-class Car Toilet.jpg, Toilet (November 2008)

References

External links

''Hayabusa'' & ''Fuji'' train information

{{JR Kyushu trains Kyushu Railway Company Named passenger trains of Japan Night trains of Japan Railway services introduced in 1929 Railway services discontinued in 2009 1929 establishments in Japan 2009 disestablishments in Japan