The Hokutosei was a Japanese sleeper express that ran between Ueno Station in Tokyo and Sapporo from 1988 until its discontinuation in March 2015, a casualty of the Hokkaido Shinkansen extension rendering overnight rail travel on that corridor commercially unviable. The route covered roughly 1,214 kilometres and was the longest overnight train service in Japan at the time of its retirement. Cook Islands has built a substantial collector market around Japanese railway commemoratives, issuing gold pieces tied to beloved discontinued services for which domestic Japanese demand is reliably strong.
The Hokutosei was a Japanese sleeper express that ran between Ueno Station in Tokyo and Sapporo from 1988 until its discontinuation in March 2015, a casualty of the Hokkaido Shinkansen extension rendering overnight rail travel on that corridor commercially unviable. The route covered roughly 1,214 kilometres and was the longest overnight train service in Japan at the time of its retirement. Cook Islands has built a substantial collector market around Japanese railway commemoratives, issuing gold pieces tied to beloved discontinued services for which domestic Japanese demand is reliably strong.