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JR-West Extends Evangelion Bullet Train Campaign

The Neon Genesis Evangelion bullet train has been in service for almost a year, with cool Evangelion-related bonuses like badges and postcards. Evangelion fans who haven't yet had the chance to ride the 500 Type Eva train are in luck, because the West Japan Railway Company (JR-West) has extended its service to spring 2018 and will launch a new campaign to promote it.

As part of the campaign, Kaworu's voice actor, Akira Ishida, will make announcements on the train. Passengers traveling on the weekends will also receive a postcard featuring Kaworu and the historic castle town of Hagi, which is in a prefecture (Yamaguchi) serviced by the train.

JR-West will also offer a stamp rally at the 500 Type Eva Cafes in five train stations: Shin-Osaka, Osaka, Okayama, Hiroshima, and Hakata (in Fukuoka). If participants collect three or more stickers from these cafes and buy something 500 yen or over at three cafes (those in Osaka, Hiroshima, and Hakata), they can get a free badge. There are only 10,000 badges, however. They will also receive a postcard that lets them enter a lottery for a model train version of the 500 Type Eva.

JR-West will also offer two travel plans: one comes with the 500 Type Eva model train, while another comes with a Unit-01 bath towel and a chance to ride in the train's "cockpit."

Participants can also enter a lottery for the items below signed by Evangelion's mechanical designer, Ikuto Yamashita. The travel plans are offered by various Japanese travel agencies.

The train comes stocked with Misato's favorite brand of sake. Evangelion also had its own bus in Hakone, which appears in the series as Tokyo-3.

Sources: Comic Natalie and 500 Type Eva Project