Japan travel tip: some of the ‘shinkaisoku’ special rapid services between Himeji (Aboshi) and the Osaka/Kyoto area have ‘A-seat’ carriages. The seats in this carriage recline and have tables. The atmosphere is more like a long-distance express train than a commuter service. The seats have to be reserved (a flat fee of 840 yen), though, and can’t be bought on the train. The A-seat carriage is normally carriage 9 (it’s a different colour to the other carriages).

If you don’t have a reserved seat, avoid this carriage: the conductors are quite aggressive about making sure nobody uses the carriage without a reservation!