As long term Japan resident and British citizen Stephen Turner listened to the experiences of visitors to Japan, he would lament their "missed opportunities" in seeing the country. 

Arriving in Narita and Haneda airports from abroad, tourists rely on taxis and cabs to reach their hotels in central Tokyo. They travel long distances in Japan only by bullet trains.

“People in many countries do not see public transportation networks as reliable means of travel due to cancellations and delays,” said Turner. “It is often difficult for those growing up in the United States, where automobiles are the most common means of travel, to imagine how to ride trains.”

So, Turner, who lives in Tokyo's Ota Ward, started arranging rail-specialized trips in Japan for sightseers from overseas.

“A big appeal of Japan’s railways lies in the many local lines,” he said.

Turner, 59, president of TS Japan Railway Travel Planning Co., started the unique business because he loves traveling along these local lines as a “noritetsu” (train-riding enthusiast).

“Japan’s railways are safe and available for affordable prices,” Turner said. “They operate just in accordance with their schedules.”

TAKING ADVANTAGE OF JAPAN'S RAILWAYS

Riding trains will give travelers a glimpse of the daily life of Japanese heading to work and school. Traveling all the way to taking trips on local rural lines will, in particular, allow them to enjoy magnificent views over the four seasons.

Turner has toured nearly all prefectures throughout Japan by train except Okinawa, where only “a monorail system is available.”

“Riding along the Gono and Uetsu lines in the Tohoku region in northeastern Japan provides passengers a look at the beautiful scenery of the coastal area by the Sea of Japan,” he said. “A steam locomotive at the Oigawa Railway (in Shizuoka Prefecture) is great, while the Iida Line (running in Nagano Prefecture and elsewhere) is the paradise of deserted ‘hikyo eki’ (out-of-the-way stations) far from human settlements.”

A total of 31.8 million visitors arrived at Japan in 2019 before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Those coming to Japan on a short-stay visa are eligible for the unlimited Japan Rail Pass, with which passengers can take advantage of nearly all trains of six Japan Railway companies, including high-speed Shinkansen, at exceptionally affordable prices.

Traveling for seven days on ordinary cars with the pass, for example, costs an adult 33,610 yen ($258) as of December 2022.

But Turner lamented that “few users apparently made full use of Japan’s railways.”

The most popular destinations among foreign visitors to Japan are Tokyo, Osaka and Kyoto, which are collectively called the “golden route.” Therefore, tourists shuttle exclusively between the capital and the Kansai region in many cases.

TRAIN BUFF SINCE CHILDHOOD

Hailing from Britain, the birthplace of railways, Turner was born and raised in Kent County, located southeast of London. He recalled frequenting a nearby station and never grew tired of seeing trains entering it all day long during his childhood.

“I found it interesting devoting myself to recording information on trains, such as their models and arrival times, in notebooks in detail,” said Turner.

Turner was assigned by his bank to move to and work in Japan in 1990. He has since toured a range of local lines in his spare time, in part, with the help of the single-day, flat-rate Seishun 18 ticket.

He married a Japanese woman and had a son. Though Turner initially planned to stay in Japan for only a few years, 32 years have passed since he first arrived in the country.

Turner also began riding steam locomotives and sightseeing trains with the members of the Japanese Railway Society who reside in the nation.

Comprised of 180 overseas fans of Japanese rail lines primarily from Europe and the United States, the society was formed in Britain in 1991 to share the little-known attractions of Japan’s tracks among hardcore rail buffs.

Turner effectively utilized the car arrangement charts showing details such as train types operating on each line and railcars’ remodeling records to create detailed travel plans on Excel tables.

Those carefully arranged and detailed plans received a positive response from his rail friends.

HELPING KEEP RAIL LINES ALIVE 

Encouraged by their words of admiration, Turner started a company in summer 2019 to offer railway travel packages for visitors from outside Japan after he took early retirement from his employer.

Though the novel coronavirus crisis flared immediately following that, Turner promoted his business on Facebook and other sites on the internet.

Turner started receiving more inquiries when COVID-19 border restrictions were significantly eased for foreign tourists this past autumn.

An Australian family of four who spent a month traveling around Japan last summer was reportedly considering going via Tokyo by Shinkansen when it planned to travel from Kyoto to Kanazawa.

Turner suggested Kanazawa can be reached from Kyoto by express train. He proposed a plan to travel farther to ride the Kurobe Gorge Railway in Toyama Prefecture and then head southward to tour Ise and Toba in Mie Prefecture.

To their delight, he likewise informed the family that they could use private railways at cheaper rates with a special pass.

Turner will organize a package next summer for a group of British rail lovers who are looking forward to seeing Japan’s steam locomotives.

What he is concerned about is the increasing number of regional tracks that are on the verge of disappearing because of their declining ridership.

“Visitors from overseas taking local lines more actively will contribute to better financial performance of rail companies,” said Turner. “Having the appeal of Japanese railways understood widely among inbound tourists, I will be helping to enliven Japan’s entire rail community.”