Aso Boy, a favorite tourist train for children.

A famous, child-friendly sightseeing train in Kyushu that's always fully booked on weekends: The Aso Boy sightseeing train operates between Kumamoto Station and Beppu Station. Some trains don't go all the way to Beppu, only as far as Miyaji. The front and rear of the train feature large panoramic seats for enjoying the view. The driver's cabin is located above the observation deck. The four carriages are half white on top, half black on the bottom, and trimmed with yellow. They are covered in images of a black dog named 'Kuro-chan'. The train is a special KIHA 183 diesel multiple unit, but modified to be a sightseeing train. The middle carriage is designed for families and children. On the day we visited, there seemed to be few families, so they didn't offer seat reservations for this carriage. However, it was still possible to enter. There are seats, a wooden ball pit for children, a reading corner, etc. Cars 1 and 4, which serve as the front and rear of the train, have special seating. We had nine seats facing outwards, considered "prime locations," which can only be reserved at the train station; booking through the JR Kyushu website isn't possible. They're usually fully booked, with people already in Japan snapping them up. The advantage is that the train runs every day, not just weekends. However, it's very busy on school holidays. We chose the first train from Kumamoto at 9:57 AM, arriving at Aso station at 11:27 AM. Out of the train station, we found the queue for the bus to visit Mount Aso. Ideally, we'd have time for a typical Japanese sightseeing tour – a brisk walk to see the volcano and then back. But that's not our Thai style – we like to take photos for social media and we don't walk fast. So we chose to wander around the area in front of the station. Luckily, there was a rest stop with restrooms and shops where we could browse and support local businesses. For the return trip, we didn't book any trains because we weren't sure how long we'd be staying. I figured I'd just hop on a local train back. On the return trip, at 12:09 PM, we didn't have anything left to see, so we decided to head back. The Aso Boy train from Miyaji arrived just in time. The staff had us use our JR Kyushu Pass to reserve seats at the ticket counter... and we got seats easily; the station wasn't full. On the way there, we enjoyed the view and the train's interior. On the way back, we enjoyed the strawberries we bought from a shop near the rest stop, and sampled the pudding from Kuro Cafe that the train staff were selling. #JapanTravel #NatureAttractions #trip