>>1958032Smoking rooms being removed is great. Even though all cars are smoking, it always stinks when you're close to those areas, and it means you might have a stinky Ojisan who just came back from that room next to you.
With announcing plans to have a Gran class like better than Green class seats in future Tokaido Shinkansen trains, JR Tokai is intent on being more flexible with the number of seats on their trains. No longer will future trains all be exactly und exactly 1323 seats.
But If they nuke smoking space for example, they could theoretically retain close to1323 seats even if they introduce a more luxurious car with bigger seats.
>>1958044If you are in Kansai the area around Asuka in Nara prefecture is beautiful. Tbh there are loads of places to go hiking and see nature in Kansai, it's just that sadly it's not well marketed to foreign tourists. Hiking up the Rokko mountain range in Kobe for instance is super easy and well worth it. You can even use the ropeway to go up, then take a cablecar down to Arima onsen for a dip after the hike.
Shodhoshima is not really Kansai, and too far for a daytrip unless you really cram it. But I recommend going there using the Jumbo ferry, at least one way. The view on the ferry of the Seto Inland Sea and when you pass underneath the massive Akashi Kaikyo bridge is well worth it. The trip itself is an attraction.
Nature tourism in Japan is something that the gov has failed to market. Tourism is way too concentrated in the urban cores of a handful of cities, even though there is so much more to see in Japan.
