Why sit when you can lie down?

For long-distance travel in Japan, most people’s first transportation choice is the Shinkansen, followed by a plane if their destination isn’t easily accessible via the bullet train network. But for a certain segment of travelers, highway buses are the best fit for their needs.

Taking the bus tends to be the least expensive way to get from Point A to far-away Point B in Japan, but it comes with the big tradeoff that it’s also usually the slowest. However, the amount of time you spend on the road doesn’t really matter if it overlaps with the time you’re spending sleeping, and Japan’s overnight buses give you that option.

Overnight buses aren’t just regular city commuter buses that drive all night, either. The seats are wider and more softly upholstered, and oftentimes configured in three rows with aisles between them, so you don’t have anyone sitting directly next to you. There’s a space for storing suitcases and other large luggage pieces, often an onboard bathroom, and the bus makes multiple stops at rest areas during the night. Most importantly, there are blackout drapes blocking light from the windows in the passenger area and the seats recline, so that you can get some shut-eye.

▼ Though they do open the drapes up in the morning.

However, overnight bus seats don’t recline all the way, so while it’s more comfortable than trying to sleep on a plane, it’s still not as restful as full-flat slumber. That’s going to change for at least one bus operator, though, as Kochi Prefecture’s Kochi Ekimae Kanko is getting set to start Japan’s first-ever full-flat overnight bus service this spring.

The path to full-flat sleeper buses was cleared last year in November, when Japan’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism created a set of safety guidelines for operators to follow, specifying design points such as secure plates on all sides to prevent passengers from sliding off/out of their sleeping area in addition to requiring that passengers continue to wear seat belts while sleeping.

As shown in Kochi Ekimae Kanko’s preview video, these beds are still reconfigurable seats, bolted into a framework that lifts one seat up and slides another underneath as they fold flat.

Given the need to attach the fall-prevention plates, though, as well as a ladder to climb into the upper bunk, it’s unlikely that passengers will be allowed to reconfigure the seats on their own, so odds are the seats will be put into one of the two available settings before passengers board, depending on whether or not that particular route is an overnight one or not.

Kochi Ekimae Kanko says it expects its full-flat overnight bus service, which it’s dubbed Sommeil Profound (“Deep Sleep” in French) and will run between Tokyo and Kochi, to be popular with domestic travelers looking to avoid the cost of hotels, which have been rapidly rising in price since the start of Japan’s inbound foreign tourism boom. In particular, the company predicts particularly high demand from young travelers headed to Tokyo specifically to attend concerts or other pop culture fan events, allowing them to slide into the city, do what they want to do, and then head back home without having to book accommodations.

▼ A video preview of the bus interior

But while full-flat sleep in and of itself is a plus, it might require a few compromises in other areas. For starters, it’s unclear whether or not top-tier passengers will be allowed/able to get in and out of their bunks while the bus is in motion, which could mean an onboard bathroom would be inaccessible except for when the bus is parked. It also doesn’t look like it’s possible to sit upright once the seats have been set in full-flat mode, so you’ll be stuck in a horizontal posture until the morning, or at least until a highway rest stop break.

▼ The seats’ dimensions

Finally, while a large part of the appeal of taking overnight buses is the cost savings, Sommeil Profound tickets will most likely be a bit more expensive than non-full-flat alternatives. Kochi Ekimae Kanko says it can fit a maximum of 12 two-seat units into its busses, for a total passenger capacity of 24. That’s about half the number of people that most overnight buses can hold, and since the trip is going to require the same amount of gas and driver hours, it’ll be surprising if Kochi Ekimae Kanko doesn’t charge Sommeil Profound passengers extra.

Still, having the full-flat option is definitely nice, and Sommeil Profound buses are scheduled to start running in March.

Related: Sommeil Profound official website
Source: Nihon Keizai Shimbun via Jin, Kochi Ekimae Kanko
Top image: Sommeil Profound official website
Insert images: SoraNews24, YouTube/高知駅前観光official
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