On March 14th, many railway companies in Japan changed their timetables all at once. JR East was one of them. Their largest topic was the debut of a new limited express train, Saphir-Odoriko bound for Izu Peninsula, a reputable resort area in the southwestern suburb of Tokyo.
What's the meaning of Saphir-Odoriko? According to JR East, saphir means sapphire in French. It's a symbol color of the ocean and the sky of Izu Peninsula. On the other hand, Odoriko means a dancing girl in Japanese. This curious name comes from a famous novel, "Izu no Odoriko (The Dancing Girl of Izu)", which is also a symbol of Izu Peninsula.
Saphir-Odoriko is operated between Tokyo (or Shinjuku) on the JR East line and Izukyu-Shimoda on the Izukyu line everyday. Its route length is 167.2 kilometers. Shimoda is a famous resort city located in the southern part of Izu Peninsula. The formal train model number of Saphir-Odoriko is the EMU JR East E261 series. A total of two sets, 16 cars, were built by Kawasaki Heavy Industries and Hitachi. One set is composed of eight cars. They are one Premium Green Car, two private room Green Cars, four standard Green Cars and one dining car. A Green Car is synonymous with a First-class car.
I recently shot this brand new train at Tokyo station. Although it wasn't a weekend, I saw many passengers boarding this gorgeous train bound for Izu resort area. I was jealous of them.
What's the meaning of Saphir-Odoriko? According to JR East, saphir means sapphire in French. It's a symbol color of the ocean and the sky of Izu Peninsula. On the other hand, Odoriko means a dancing girl in Japanese. This curious name comes from a famous novel, "Izu no Odoriko (The Dancing Girl of Izu)", which is also a symbol of Izu Peninsula.
Saphir-Odoriko is operated between Tokyo (or Shinjuku) on the JR East line and Izukyu-Shimoda on the Izukyu line everyday. Its route length is 167.2 kilometers. Shimoda is a famous resort city located in the southern part of Izu Peninsula. The formal train model number of Saphir-Odoriko is the EMU JR East E261 series. A total of two sets, 16 cars, were built by Kawasaki Heavy Industries and Hitachi. One set is composed of eight cars. They are one Premium Green Car, two private room Green Cars, four standard Green Cars and one dining car. A Green Car is synonymous with a First-class car.
I recently shot this brand new train at Tokyo station. Although it wasn't a weekend, I saw many passengers boarding this gorgeous train bound for Izu resort area. I was jealous of them.
Official information about the limited express train, Saphir-Odoriko, EMU E261 series: