For train buffs, the merit of staying at a hotel in Japan by a train station is not just a convenience. Many people are now going especially to watch and photograph trains in bliss the way others do for ocean views. Several hotels have seen a market there, and their “train view” campaigns have become a hit.

Hotel Mets Akabane right by JR Akabane station in northern Tokyo has a train-view package that guarantees a room on the rail side on the 4th floor and above. After photographing the approach of express trains Cassiopeia, Hokuriku and Noto on the platform, you shoot from above in the hotel room.

The Train View Plan of affiliate Hotel Mets Tabata near JR Tabata station boasts the dynamic view of three different shinkansen lines altogether from the 6th through 13th floors or freight trains and the shinkansen switchyard from the second floor. The checkout time on this plan is extended from the regular 11 a.m. to 12 a.m. to adjust to the train schedules.

Meanwhile, Odakyu Hotel Century Southern Tower by Shinjuku station introduced “Just like the N-Gauge Model – Train-View Stay Plan” in June this year, coined after Japan’s standard scale of model trains. Among the 375 rooms provided on the 22nd to 35th floors, 26 double rooms at the corner offer spectacles of colorful JR trains circulating Shinjuku station and other superior-twin/double rooms overview several JR and Odakyu lines.

Train ‘otaku’ have been always around in Japan and elsewhere. But certainly they seam to of surfaced to the mainstream for the last couple of years.  As that continues, foreign train otakus could well become a regular site in and famous railway hotspots.

Other hotels with recommended train views include Chisun Hotel Hamamatsucho, Shibuya Tokyu Inn, Dai-ichi Inn Ikebukuro, Remm Akihabara, Keio Presso Inn Otemachi, Ryogoku River Hotel, Hotel Metropolitan Marunouchi by Tokyo station, Hotel Bellclassic Tokyo by Otsuka station and Keikyu Ex Inn by Omori Kaigan station. Whether they have special campaigns or not, reservations for rooms with breathtaking train views are always welcomed.

These railway-affiliated hotels are successfully appealing to the reportedly 4 billion yen market of 20,000 rail fans in Japan. While the market gimmick mostly concentrates in Tokyo, some suburban hotels are also in full swing to promote their newly found attractions.

By Mayumi Saito