May 19 (soranews24.com) - It was a sad day when the Evangelion Shinkansen made its last journey on the rails on 13 May. But where one door closes, another one opens, and that’s exactly what happened this week, as West Japan Railway finally let us all peek inside their new Hello Kitty Shinkansen, which is set to make its debut next month.
The new high-speed train will run on the Sanyo Shinkansen line from Osaka’s Shin-Osaka Station to Hakata Station in Fukuoka, and it’s all about Hello Kitty helping to “tie and bind customers to the region“ with symbolic bows and ribbons on the outside of the train, and on the inside too.
Like the Evangelion Shinkansen which came before it, this special Hello Kitty model will have exclusive design features in its first and second carriages. The first car, called “Hello! Plaza†will feature a pastel pink interior, with polka dots, stripes, ribbon and bow accents, and images of Hello Kitty dressed up in her exclusive train-crew uniform.
This first carriage is where passengers will be able to take a break, purchase regional-exclusive goods and watch videos promoting various areas in western Japan, starting first with the “San’in Destination Campaign“, which is set to showcase the prefectures of Shimane and Tottori in the San’in region until September. From October, Yamaguchi will be featured, followed by dedicated goods and video screenings for Osaka, Hyogo, Okayama, Hiroshima, and Fukuoka prefectures later in the year.
