There may have been a fair amount of train-related posts on Tokyo Fox in the last few years (stations, dangle-trains, railway cafes, Metro challenges etc) but when it comes to actual trains I know very little. I wasn’t even aware of this futuristic luxury liner until my wife said that she wanted to ride on it. Within a couple of weeks a plan had been made to ride on it with our ever-faithful dog joining us too for a rare outing (for him!) beyond the borders of Tokyo.

The rounded front gives it a very sci-fi look

This silver-coloured spaceship-style limited express train known as Laview runs every hour between Ikebukuro and Seibu-Chichibu in Saitama with stops at Tokorozawa, Irumashi, Hanno, and Yokoze. It seems that Seibu Railway have been operating it since 2019 with the name being concocted from the words Luxury living spaces, arrow-like speed and view.

The latter is presumably down to the expanded view that is possible due to the large glass windows (1.35 metres tall and 1.58 metres wide) which also means the carriages are lighter than usual. Maybe the mustard-yellow seats, as well as the soft indirect lighting, also helps to make it lighter than on a regular train.

The train ride was super smooth and the seats were stylish, soft and really comfortable although I could still have done with a little bit more leg room. Or maybe the seats could have been a few inches higher to allow for my shins to fit under the seat in front.

It cost 1700 yen to travel on this liner to Chichibu which would usually cost 900 yen on the regular Seibu Ikebukuro trains. It took 80 minutes which is about 30 minutes quicker than the regular trains although it all depends on how quickly you can change at Hanno station.

Friday the 13th was the date when we took this journey and I’m sure you all know what usually happens on such a date. Yep, absolutely nothing.

The benefit of the huge windows was that the dog could see out of them more often than not. For the record, dogs should be kept fully in their bags or cases but with very few people on board we allowed him a bit more freedom.

Seibu Chichibu station was the final destination and it had an interesting exterior.

As we made our way to Hitsujiyama Park we saw the train in action and it looked even more spectacular to see it cruising past.

We didn’t return to Seibu-Chichibu station as I realised on the way that Yokoze station was a more convenient end point meaning that we didn’t have to backtrack at all.

Taking Laview back to Tokyo was never a certainty as we’d already experienced it but ultimately we decided it was worth doing again.

This time I took the window seat as we headed backwards to Hanno station where it then changes direction. For those who don’t like going backwards (or forwards!) or want to sit as a group of four, I should point out that it is possible to spin the seats around.

Of course you could go on Laview for a shorter time but experiencing the luxury ride for the full distance for just 800 yen extra was well worth it and provided us with a fairly simple half-day trip out of Tokyo!

Click here to read ‘Riding On The Star Wars Rapi:it Train’

Click here to read ‘Review: Films Set In Japan – Bullet Train (2022)’

Click here to read ‘Riding On One Of The World’s Seven Dangletrains’

Click here to read ‘Two Great Spots For Capturing The Classic Bullet Train & Mount Fuji Shot!’