All aboard the party train!
Alumni parties, or dousoukai, are hugely popular in Japan. Rather than being a once-in-a-blue-moon occasion like a 25-year reunion, many schools and universities in Japan have yearly get-togethers, which range from formal affairs with speeches and souvenirs to informal drunken shindigs. Often the bonds formed during university continue well into adult working life.
The key to a good party is all in the venue, and you can now rent a train car on the Seibu line for a drinking party with your pals!
The new venture is part of a campaign run by the Seibu Railway corporation. In recent years, the company has run a series of “beer tours” and mystery tours via train on its routes.
Its target clientele includes those who attended schools which are located along the Seibu Shijuku Line, the Seibu Ikebukuro Line, the Seibu Kokubunji Line, and the Seibu Hajima Line. You can specify which station the train picks you and your buddies up at, and which one it drops you off at for the after-party.
For 9,000 yen (US$80) a person, the railway provides a party course on one of its distinctive yellow trains, including beer and snacks, which can be reserved through the Syoya Dousoukai website. Bookings will be taken until the end of May, and the actual parties themselves will take place from September to December.
Finally, an excuse to be drunk and rowdy on the train!
Source and inset image: Syoya Dousoukai via Net Lab
Feature image: Flickr/ys-waiz