Starting soon, you’ll be able to make the journey from Fukuoka to Tokyo with about as much style as you can get while riding an excruciatingly long night bus.
The Nisshi Nippon Railroad Co., which confusingly also apparently operates a bus line or two, says it will be installing the new “Premium Seats” on a very small selection of its newest buses. While we’ll admit there’s nothing all that luxurious about a bus seat, no matter how far the seat reclines and how fancy the amenities, this one comes with a pretty extensive list of perks:
Not only does the chair recline to a nearly-horizontal lying position, but it is surrounded by thick partitions, separating your regal self from the rest of those plebeians in their filthy fabric chairs, who will surely be shifting in discomfort and staring envious daggers in your direction. We assume the partitions are also thick enough to stop envy daggers.
The seats additionally come with a massage function, heaters, personal air filtration device, and a tablet device featuring free Internet access and, inexplicably, an electronic dictionary.
A Premium Seat ticket goes for about 17,000-20,000 yen ($US170-200), which isn’t bad at only 5,000 yen more than the lower class of seats.
This all may seem like overkill, but did we mention that the Fukuoka-Tokyo route is longest bus route available in Japan, clocking in at around 14-and-a-half hours? Interestingly, that makes the Premium Seat around 7,000 yen more expensive and 10 hours longer than the trip would take by bullet train. But if you ask us, that’s a small price to pay to spend a good full day sitting back and studying up for the World Scrabble Championship.
Source: ITMedia
Photos: response.jp
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