All Aboard The Ninja Train! The Uniquely Designed Iga Railway In Mie

Known as the hometown of ninja, Iga in Mie prefecture, is where you will find the Iga Railway. This historic railway is over 100 years old, and, as you travel through classic Japanese mountain scenery, you can enjoy Ninja Trains with designs you will only find in this area.

Not only is it a means of transportation, but the railway itself is one of the highlights of sightseeing in the area. Today let's take a closer look at the charms of the Ninja Train.

©Reiji Matsumoto

This is the Ninja Train with designs featuring kunoichi (female ninjas) on its exterior. Designed by the renowned manga and anime creator Reiji Matsumoto, famous for 'Galaxy Express 999', this train has fascinated many ninja, train, manga, and anime fans.

©Reiji Matsumoto

Let's take a look at it from the side. No matter what angle you view it from, the design overall has a great impact.

©Reiji Matsumoto
The Iga railway connects JR Iga-Ueno Station on the Kansai line to Kintetsu Iga-Kambe Station, covering a distance of 16.6 km. Let's take a trip and learn how to best access this train line, by traveling from Osaka's Kintetsu Osaka line to the Iga Railway Iga-Kambe Station.

Taking a Trip on the Ninja Train!

Transfers are easy as the Kintetsu train Iga-Kambe Station and Iga railway Iga-Kambe Station are within the same station building.

We discovered a ninja on a pillar on the platform! We couldn't help but laugh when we saw it hiding there. This is a wonderful trick that's sure to entertain both children and adults when traveling on this line.

We recommend purchasing the Iga Railway One Day Pass ticket; the fare is only 720 yen for adults, and 360 yen for children. These passes can be purchased at Ueno, Kayamachi, and Iga-Kambe Stations. This is a great deal which makes it easier to travel between the 14 stations on the Iga Railway line in a day. This is a paper ticket rather than a plastic IC card, so all you need to do is show your ticket to the station staff at the ticket gate and you can hop aboard. It also makes for a lovely souvenir of your time in Mie too.

Views of mountains, rice fields, ponds, and forests can be enjoyed from the large train windows; these sights of natural Japanese scenery are a stark contrast to those of the city areas.

Three Kinds of Body Designs on the Ninja Trains

©Reiji Matsumoto

©Reiji Matsumoto
The blue train has run since 2009, the pink one since 2010, and the green since 2012. Of the five trains owned by the Iga Railway, three are Ninja Trains, which means whenever you visit, there is a good chance that you'll be able to see and ride on at least one of these fun trains! If you want to make certain that you'll have this opportunity, please call and ask at Ueno Station after 17:00 the day before your visit by phone (Ueno Station: +81-595-21-3231).

The green Ninja Train, called the 'mokuiku (tree growing) train' is especially popular as its interior is made from wood grown and produced in Mie prefecture. The warm smell of the wood within this train and its use was born from a project to both protect the domestic timber industry, and to promote the use of wooden materials as well. If you get a chance to ride the green Ninja Train, please make sure to appreciate the interior as much as the exterior.

A Lot of Tricks in the Interior too!

There are tricks in the interior as well, and we will now show you some that we found on the blue Ninja Train during our visit. Please keep in mind though, the newest train, the green Ninja Train, has a different interior entirely.

Oh my goodness! There's someone crouching down on the luggage rack - it's the red ninja!

Ah! There is a yellow ninja on this shelf! These bright colors are rather un-ninja-like of them.

With the doors closed, you can see a ninja running, but if you watch as they open, it looks like the ninja disappears into thin air!

Along the floor of the train you can see a stone path, reminiscent of the old townscape of Iga where the ninja used to stealthily run.

In addition to these hidden ninja, there are also curtains and ramps designed around shuriken or throwing knives, and wheelchair spaces that look like itabei or wooden fences too. Although not ninja-related, there is also an area called Cycle Space, where train passengers with bicyles can ride the train - this is especially helpful if you want to cycle about in the beautiful countryside.

©Reiji Matsumoto

This is the driver we met at Ueno Station. The train staff on Iga railway are all very friendly.

Thanks to the 2016 G7 Summit, which took place in Iseshima, the staff of the Iga Railway trained in order to provide smoother communication in English for their many international visitors, with a great number of people visiting from China, Korea, and Thailand. The staff told us that many of the visitors enjoy both riding and taking photos of the Ninja Trains; it seems that the ninja's popularity is international indeed.

Next time, we will show you Iga Railway's Ueno Station, and take a closer look at their multilingual service, plus some special railway items available at the station. Stay tuned!