Foreign tourists in Japan to get free shinkansen tickets to promote regional tourism

Japan’s shinkansen (bullet train) network is made up of a number of different lines, but often when international travelers talk about taking “the shinkansen” they’re referring to the Tokaido Shinkansen and Sanyo Shinkansen lines, which flow seamlessly into one another with no train transfer required. Together, they stretch from Tokyo in the east to Fukuoka in the west, and many travelers make those the endpoints of their Japan travel plans, since Kyoto, Osaka, Kobe, and Hiroshima are all accessible along the way.

But while the Sanyo Shinkansen line ends at Hakata Station in Fukuoka, the shinkansen network itself keeps going farther into Japan’s southwestern island of Kyushu, all the way down to Kagoshima Prefecture. This bullet train path is one that many overseas travelers overlook, but that’s likely to change under a new plan in which some foreign tourists can ride the entire length of the Kyushu Shinkansen Line for free.

Kagoshima Governor Koichi Shiota made the announcement during a press conference om February 10, presenting it as a plan to boost tourism to the prefecture. While Japan’s most famous tourism attractions have been seeing record numbers of overseas tourists, Kagoshima’s numbers have been slumping, and the prefecture is currently receiving fewer overnight hotel guests from abroad than it was before the coronavirus pandemic. Making matters worse is that Kagoshima Airport no longer has any direct flights between it and Hong Kong, and its number of direct flights to/from Shanghai have been reduced as well, but with Kagoshima being at the southwestern tip of Kyushu, traveling to the prefecture by bus, car, or ordinary train takes a long time.

So to encourage foreign visitors to come on down and check the place out, the Kagoshima government will be offering free one-way shinkansen tickets from Hakata Station to Kagoshima Chuo Station, in Kagoshima City. The roughly 90-minute trip ordinarily costs around 11,500 yen.

▼ The shinkansen route from Hakata to Kagoshima Chuo

Initially, the tickets will be available to travelers from Korea, Taiwan, China, and Hong Kong (the four countries/territories Kagoshima Airport either does or recently had direct flights to/from), with a planned expansion to include high-potential countries such as the U.S., Thailand, and others. The cost of the tickets will be completely subsidized by the Kyushu prefectural government.

“With local populations decreasing, the importance of tourism is growing,” said Shiota in announcing the initiative. “Finding ways to bring people to Kagoshima even without direct flights has become a major priority.”

Details on how to apply for the tickets will be released at a later date.

Source: Minami Nippon Shimbun via Itai New

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