Lodging services using a retired "blue train," or sleeper train, preserved at a railway-themed sightseeing facility in an Akita Prefecture town are set to restart Saturday after five years of suspension due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Kosaka Railroad Railpark, in Kosaka, has collected money to partially cover the costs to repair sleeping cars of the Akebono blue train via a crowdfunding initiative.
"(The Akebono) is here with abundant memories and thoughts of numerous passengers," Jiro Suzuki, the 60-year-old manager of the facility, said. "I want our guests to feel the atmosphere (of the sleeping cars) that can't be experienced in today's railroad cars."