three-hour trip on the Coto Coto train,

one of the newer designer restaurant trains

to hit local railway lines in rural Fukuoka.

There are quite a lot of interesting designer trains

running throughout Kyushu already,

but the Coto Coto train is an interesting entry

to the market because of its close proximity

to Fukuoka City and its reasonable pricing.

Hey, guys, good morning, it's Micaela.

Today I am in Nogata, which is deep countryside Fukuoka.

I'm about to get on the Coto Coto train,

which runs along the Chikuho railway.

And this is really out there.

This is not along the main line

that runs between Fukuoka and Kagoshima,

so it's a little bit off the beaten path.

But this train is amazing.

I can't wait to show you what it's like.

The Coto Coto train was designed by Eiji Mitooka,

a popular Japanese train designer

responsible for many of the designer trains in Kyushu.

His affinity for fusing retro-style wooden interiors

with complex patterns and bright colors is a trademark

that can be seen in the majority of his designer trains.

There's patterns everywhere.

The ground is this wooden mosaic.

It feels very strange to be down on the floor,

touching the ground, but you can feel the crevices

between each block.

It's not like a smooth pattern flooring.

It's something that you can just tell has been made

piece by piece by piece.

The other highlight of this journey is the built-in kitchen.

This three-hour train ride features a multi-course

French-fusion menu, planned and executed

by Fukuoka's Michelin-starred restaurant,

La Maison De La Nature Goh,

which was also featured amongst Asia's 50 best restaurants.

The quality of food on this train is unreal.

So this is the Coto Coto box.

It's a bento box made with ingredients

from along the Chikuho line.

We have salmon and edible Chrysanthemum tartar,

steamed cauliflower, blueberry-flavored red cabbage,

croquette of giblet hotpot, boar hamburg steak.

So we've got boar meat today.

- [Man] Hell, yeah.

- Fried puffer fish, rolled Chinese cabbage

with monkfish liver, taro and onion quiche, jambon blanc,

and black beans and cream cheese bagel sandwich.

And that's just the first course.

There are five courses in total, including dessert.

And each course highlights

different seasonal and local ingredients,

fusing them together in unique and interesting ways.

All right, so I ordered some beer.

This is the Fukuchi Rich Beer,

that is made with local toyomitsuhime figs.

Now, I don't drink that often, but I am a sucker

for local fruits and flavors.

I like anything that's fruity.

And anything that uses local fruits

or regional specialty fruits.

This fig beer is really light.

It doesn't have that sourness that beer sometimes has.

Very light, easy to drink.

And has a nice, fruity aftertaste.

(relaxing music)

So every once in a while during our journey,

the train stops for about

10 to 15 minutes at certain stations.

And we can get out, use the bathroom.

There's no bathrooms on the train.

So we can stop at the station, have a toilet break.

And at the stations,

locals are selling their handmade goods, their foods,

their local specialties at the station

for visitors to look at and possibly buy.

So here we can see some tsukemono.

This one is shiso flavored.

This one's miso.

Some preserved shiitake mushrooms.

Shiitake shoyu, so soy sauce for shiitake mushrooms.

This is really cool.

This is shiitake chazuke.

Chazuke is where you pour dashi over rice,

and you kind of make yourself a rice porridge.

So this is shiitake chazuke.

So you would put this chopped shiitake mushroom

over your rice, pour some dashi sauce over it,

and make like a mushroom porridge.

That's really cool.

This would be really good.

(upbeat energetic music)

- [Server] This is for you.

- Oh, yeah, happy birthday.

It's my birthday.

(speaking foreign language)

♪ Happy birthday to you ♪

♪ Happy birthday to you ♪

- So, it's not my birthday.

Oh man, it's not my birthday.

But the staff were very, very nice.

And they asked if I had a birthday recently,

or if it was my birthday soon.

And I said it was my birthday a month ago.

And they were like, "Close enough."

And so, they just brought me a birthday plate.

And everyone sang happy birthday to me.

And it was very surprising.

But I love the hospitality, I love the energy.

This is so cool.

And the birthday plate actually looks fabulous.

So it's really cool they got to show us that.

That that is something that they do.

Good job.

But everybody, everybody stopped to pay attention.

And it was, I'm a little shy.

Now this dessert.

I have been looking forward to this dessert

from the beginning of this trip

because everything that we've eaten up until now

has been amazing, so I know that this dessert

is gonna be incredible as well.

Let's just dig in.

(energetic music)

So the reason that this train exists

all the way out here in the first place

is because it's part of a bigger project

where Fukuoka is trying to bring life

back into the countryside.

As Fukuoka City's population increases,

the countryside population has been decreasing.

And so with the introduction of really fun activities,

such as kankou densha, designer trains,

they hope to bring more people back out to the countryside,

eating local foods and produce.

And hopefully stopping a few places along the way

and putting money back in to the local economies.

If you're looking for something very, very fancy

with incredible food, each dish has been delicious,

innovative, fun.

And just flavors that I've never even had before.

For a quick escape to the countryside and delicious food,

this was one of the best train trips I've had in Kyushu yet.

And one that I would absolutely do again.

(speaking foreign language)

Well, it's all done.

We have arrived at Yukuhashi Station.

And the trip is over.

All right guys, so I had a great time.

I'm about to head back to Fukuoka.

If you have enjoyed this video,

if you're interested in learning more,

check the description box.

I'm gonna put links to the Coto Coto train

and how to reserve, and how to get more information

down in the description box below.

If you enjoyed this video, let me know in the comments.

Let me know if you've tried

any of the designer trains across Japan.

There are actually so many.

All right guys, I gotta go.

(speaking foreign language)

If you wanna come to the Coto Coto train,

these lovely staff are waiting for you.

All right, I'm gonna head home,

but thank you so much for watching.

I'll see you next time.

Bye.