Day 22 - green cars

Laura is going to sleep in and have a clean up morning so Diane and Geoff are going to head down to the Kamakura area for the day. The train trip will take about one hour from Shinjuku but depending on how crowded the train is we could end up standing the whole way. This is where the green car comes in.

Some of the long distance suburban trains (such as the Shonan Shinjuku to Kamakura) have green cars attached. There are two of these luxurious double deck cars attached to our 15 carriage train.







By paying an extra green car fee you get comfortable reclining Shinkansen style seats and huge windows to enjoy the view.






Each seat has a fold out tray, a cup and magazine holder and even a little fold out hook to tale your umbrella.







To get a green car seat you put your Suica into the ticket Machine and purchase the green car seat for your destination using the Suica. The fee is taken off the card. You then enter the platform as normal by swiping the Suica and you go and find the clearly marked section of the platform that shows where the green car will stop.







When you get in and select you seat, you hold the Suica up to the red light above you seat. It reads the Suica and changes to green which shows the carriage attendant that you are entitled to your seat. Too easy!!







Naturally we enjoyed the comfort so much that we repeated the process on the return journey. I can't get over the perfect, spotless condition of these carriages.

-- Post From Geoff's iPhone