Know Your Trains: Hitachi and Tokiwa

Edit 9 October 2019: Updated prices to reflect the increase in Japan's national sales tax.

An E657-series train, on a test run at Kita-Senju Station.
By Rsa [GFDL or CC-BY-SA-3.0], from Wikimedia Commons

Previously on Sekai Ichi, I visited the Hitachi Seaside Park in Ibaraki Prefecture.  While I went as part of a guided tour, the park can also be visited by public transportation.  And the fastest way there is by the Hitachi limited express train which, along with its sister train, the Tokiwa, passes the park on its way up and down the JR Joban line.

Name	Start Station	End Station(s)	Time	Max. Frequency*
Hitachi	Shinagawa	Iwaki	150 minutes	1 per hour
Tokiwa	Shinagawa	Katsuta	100 minutes	1 per hour
		Takahagi	130 minutes	4 per day

* Departure frequency is based on July 2018 schedules and are subject to change.

The Joban Line starts from centre-city Tokyo and goes northeast until it reaches the Pacific Ocean coast, near Mito and the Hitachi Seaside Park, and follows it northwards until terminating at Sendai. The Hitachi service skips most of the earlier stops ends at Iwaki, the largest city in Fukushima Prefecture, while the Tokiwa makes more stops and terminates earlier on. Traditionally, the Hitachi and Tokiwa both started from Ueno Station. But, on 14 March 2015, the Ueno-Tokyo line was opened, providing through-service between the Tokaido and northern main lines. The Hitachi and Tokiwa take advantage of this by making additional stops at Tokyo and Shinagawa stations, the latter serving as their new terminus.

Name (English)	Name (Japanese)	Line	Hitachi	Tokiwa
Shinagawa	品川	JR Tokaido (JT)	O	O
Tokyo	東京		O	O
Ueno	上野		X	X
		JR Joban (JJ)
Kashiwa	柏		I	X
Sanuki	佐貫		I	O
Ushiku	牛久		I	O
Tsuchiura	土浦		I	X
Ishioka	石岡		I	X
Tomobe	友部		I	X
Akatsuka	赤塚		I	O
Kairakuen*	偕楽園		O	O
Mito	水戸		X	X
Katsuta	勝田		X	X
Tokai	東海		I	O
Omika	大甕		O	O
Hitachi-Taga	常陸多賀		O	O
Hitachi	日立		X	O
Takahagi	高萩		O	O
Isohara	磯原		O	O
Nakoso	勿来		O	I
Izumi	泉		X	I
Yumoto	湯本		X	I
Iwaki	いわき		X	I

Legend
X: All trains stop at this station.
O: Some trains stop at this station.
I: No trains stop at this station.
*Kairakuen is a temporary station open only during the plum-blossom season in February/March.

Notable Stops

• Mito: The capital city of Ibaraki Prefecture, and site of Kairaku-en, one of Japan's three most famous landscape gardens, which is famous for plum-tree blossoms in February and March.
• Katsuta: The closest station to Hitachi Seaside Park.
• Hitachi: A seaside city with a sizable cherry blossom festival.
• Izumi: The closest station to the Aquamarine Fukushima aquarium.
• Yumoto: The closest station to the Spa Resort Hawaiians water park.
• Iwaki: The largest city in Fukushima Prefecture.

An E653-series Super Hitachi train (retired in 2013), passing the plum trees of Kairaku-en.
Fumihiko Ueno [CC BY 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons

Both the Hitachi and Tokiwa use E657-series train sets, which were introduced in 2012.  In both the regular and Green cars, seats are arranged in a 2+2 layout, with 96cm (38 in.) of seat pitch in the regular sections, and 116cm (46 in.) in the Green Cars.  All seats have their own electrical outlets.

Service	Total Cars	Non-Reserved Cars	Reserved Cars	Green Cars
Hitachi	10	0	9 (Cars #1-4, 6-10)	1 (Car #5)
Tokiwa	10	0	9 (Cars #1-4, 6-10)	1 (Car #5)

Tips

• All seats on the Hitachi and Tokiwa require reservations.  These are free to make with the Japan Rail Pass and JR East Tohoku Area Pass.
• The JR East Nagano-Niigata Area Pass and Tokyo Wide Pass also cover the Hitachi and Tokiwa, but only up to Isohara, the last stop in Ibaraki prefecture. Users of these passes must pay for any fares beyond that out-of-pocket, up to ¥1,440 (to Iwaki).
• During Kairaku-en's plum blossom festival in February/March, a temporary train station is set up at the park's entrance, between Akatsuka and Mito Stations.  At the moment, I have been unable to confirm if Hitachi and/or Tokiwa trains make an additional stop there, or if you will need to transfer to a local at the next closest stop.

Trivia

• The name "Hitachi" (ひたち) is also the name of Hitachi Province, the former counterpart to present-day Ibaraki Prefecture.  As a train service, the name was first used in 1963 for express trains between Ueno and Iwaki*.
• *Iwaki Station was known as Taira Station until 1994.
• The name "Tokiwa" (ときわ) is an alternate reading of Joban (常磐, Jōban), a region encompassing the old Hitachi (常陸国, Hitachi no Kuni) and Iwaki (磐城国, Iwaki no Kuni) provinces, the latter forming the eastern portion of modern-day Fukushima Prefecture.  As a train service, the name was first used for another express service between Ueno and Iwaki.  It operated from 1958 to 1985.
• The Hitachi was once supplemented by two new services: the Super Hitachi in 1989, and the Fresh Hitachi in 1997. In March 2015, they were renamed simply Hitachi and Tokiwa, respectively.