Japan loves trains and steam locomotives can be found pulling sightseeing tours around the country, providing a unique way to enjoy some of the nation’s most beautiful and diverse scenery. Hokkaido has its iconic black C11 steam engine plowing through white snow in winter and Yamaguchi has its gorgeous D51 and C57 engines that roll through endless fields but in Kyushu we have SL (Steam Locomotive) Hitoyoshi.

SL Hitoyoshi at Hitoyoshi Station

Watching it in action is like a scene from America’s past, a gleaming black steam engine streaming clouds of smoke as it barrels down the line, following the course of a fast flowing emerald river that snakes through the bottom of a deep green valley cutting through Appalachian hills, except this is Kumamoto not Kentucky.

The only downside to riding the train is not being able to take pictures as it passes.

The locomotive engine itself is a Class 8620, Japan’s first domestically mass-produced engine designed for passenger service. This one was built in 1922 and is currently the oldest operating train engine running regularly on a main line in Japan. After half a century of service its final years of regular operations were spent in the Hitoyoshi area before retirement in 1975. The engine was refurbished and brought back online for sightseeing in 1988.

I’d wanted to ride this classic as long as I’d known steam was a viable travel option in this country so I went to the local JR station to make my reservations, convincing a friend to come along for the ride as well. Despite the train’s specialness the ticket was well-priced at about 2500 yen for the one-way two hour ride and I was able to get seats just two days before my intended trip in June 2018.

Our journey began on the platform in Kumamoto Station, watching a vintage diesel back SL Hitoyoshi into the station, seeing first the refurbished cars before the steaming engine came into view. Seeing the active engine was exciting for me because there’s a palpable vitality to them that modern trains don’t have. They constantly blow off steam and smoke, sometimes heavy, sometimes light but there’s always action from pent up energy just waiting to be released.

I wasn’t alone in my excitement as from the moment it pulled in the steam engine was treated like an old rock star getting swarmed by groupies of all ages with cameras. This would happen at every stop along the way, mostly us passengers wanting to get shots of our ride in different settings- city station, country station, a country station but not the same one, yet another country station, but there were also the train fans that followed our smoky track and would set up at stations or along the way to get the train’s good side as we passed through the landscape and over old red bridges, some of which came from America.

Inside the train cars aren’t vintage but are restyled as a celebration of steam with little models and pictures of trains everywhere. My time onboard was split between my seat and the observation car. While scenery could be enjoyed anywhere, the large observation car windows were great for sitting by and just watching it all roll by, waving at people as they waved at us.

Reading about it ahead of time I thought tewofu-rail, the activity of people on the train and beside the track waving to each other was just cutesy marketing but no, it’s very real. Beside photographers it seemed most everyone who saw the train stopped what they were doing to wave at us, even rafter going down river pulled to the shore to smile and shake their paddles our way.

While in the observation car a conductor gave an energetic presentation about the things we passed. I didn’t know Japanese so it didn’t help me much, but thankfully another conductor who spoke English gave me an English map and explained the short version later. The conductors were always cheerful, helpful and operating at 120% I don’t know how those ladies do it and walk in heels on a bouncy train all day. (This is Japan; of course they’re all cute young women except for the guy who actually stamps your ticket.)

Back at our seats we killed time by trying out everything in the onboard café’s selection of locally produced food and drink from Kumamoto beer and sochu to non-alcoholic banpeiyu cider and chestnut strips. I’d not eaten or drank banpeiyu before; it’s a citrus unique to Japan that grows in Kumamoto. The cider was a real stand out as it had a light and slightly sweet flavor I really enjoyed.

We had a few stops on the way to Hitoyoshi for receiving and disembarking passengers but two were for rail-related sightseeing, Shiroishi and Isshochi stations. These two are old-fashioned wooden station that hasn’t changed much since the Emperor’s grandfather was in power. Shiroishi, built in 1908, even has a functional old British-style pillar post office box out front. We had just a few minutes at each station and time had to be quickly divided between snapping pictures of the train and watching engineers shovel coal into the engine then rushing out front for pictures of the station while we all kind of wandered into and out of each other’s shots. We knew our time was up at each stop when a conductor began ringing her large hand bell to get us back aboard.

Though the journey ends at Hitoyoshi Station, there’s still more to the steam experience here. The station still uses its 1910-built stone engine shed, Japan’s oldest, and has a turntable we could watch the engine rotate on when it’s being prepared for the return trip to Kumamoto. A practical necessity, but the turntable was also a show with an audience so it was given an extra spin for us to get all our photos, videos and selfies.

This engine shed, built in 1910, is the oldest working shed in Japan.

This train makes one round trip run a day on weekends and holidays during the spring and summer. If you want to spend time in Hitoyoshi, which has a few days worth of traditional Japanese houses, ruins and onsens to experience, you may have to take a regular train back to Kumamoto during the week.

If you’re only coming for the train the two hour window before the return trip leaves just enough time to do a few things. First, buy a chestnut bento from the bento seller on the platform who carries a giant box of bento, as he has since 1965, to eat while watching the train station clock do a samurai musical performance (it makes sense when you see it) and then walk down the street to Aoi Aso Shrine, who’s gate was built in 1610 and is a national treasure. The shrine has stood since 806 A.D. and was built in a particular local style and so there are no others quite like it.

The gate of Aoi Aso Shrine is a national treasure.

Obento desu.

I rode the train round trip, and between the two the morning run definitely felt more energetic than the afternoon return trip. People get tired, except the conductors, and it just felt like taking a train ride home whereas everyone seemed excited on the way up for something special.

Getting tickets for SL Hitoyoshi can be accomplished at any JR Station and they cannot be purchased online.

From Sasebo I took the limited express to Shin-Tosu and then a shinkansen to Kumamoto. While worlds apart technologically, the bullet train and steam engines were in regular operations at the same time for a decade. The first shinkansen came online in 1964 and the Class 8620 engine we rode didn’t retire until 1975.