Photo/Illutration A departure ceremony for the newly renovated “Nanatsuboshi” (Seven Stars) deluxe sleeper train is held at JR Hakata Station in Fukuoka on Oct. 15. (Hironori Kato)

FUKUOKA--Kyushu Railway Co.’s newly renovated “Nanatsuboshi” (Seven Stars) deluxe sleeper train went into service on Oct. 15 with the most expensive tickets costing 1.7 million yen ($11,428) for a three-night trip.

JR Kyushu organized what it called an “Episode 2” departure ceremony at Hakata Station here. Nine groups of 16 passengers were aboard the train.

Under the revamp, dining rooms previously located in the first and second carriages were incorporated in the first carriage, leaving the second one to be transformed into a room for Japanese traditional tea ceremony and a salon with sofas where passengers can sit and chat during trips.

The third carriage now has a bar and a gallery store for crafts collected from across Kyuhu. Passenger cabins are located in five carriages from the third to the seventh.

Passenger capacity was reduced from 30 to 20.

Nanatsuboshi train started operations on Oct. 15, 2013. Since then, it made 706 trips carrying 17,662 passengers.

JR Kyushu’s goal is for the Nanatsubosi to become on a par with the world-famous Orient Express that travels in Europe.

“We are entering into our second episode in our 10th year. We hope to continue our journey into the third and fourth episodes,” said Eiji Mitooka, 75, the chief designer behind the revamp.

“It may sound presumptuous, but we want to spin a 100-year story,” he added.

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