1.
sleeping car; sleeper car (a railway car with beds for overnight passengers)
A railway car equipped with beds or berths where passengers can sleep during overnight long-distance travel. Once common on Japan's long-distance express trains, such cars have become rare, with only a few luxury 'cruise train' services now operating them.
寝台車で東京まで行った。
I went to Tokyo by sleeper car.
寝台車の切符はもう売り切れていた。
The sleeper-car tickets were already sold out.
最近は寝台車を連結した夜行列車がほとんどなくなってしまった。
These days overnight trains with sleeper cars attached have almost all disappeared.
Compound of 寝台 ('bed; berth') and 車 ('car; vehicle'). Refers specifically to a railway car equipped with berths; not used for road vehicles.
USAGE:
- Almost always refers to the sleeper car of a long-distance or overnight train. Modern Japan retains only a handful of such services, so the word carries a slightly nostalgic, retro feel for many speakers.
- On luxury cruise trains like the トワイライトエクスプレス{瑞風} the cabins are usually called by more specific names (e.g., スイート), but 寝台車 still appears as the general category term.
COMMON COLLOCATIONS:
- 寝台車に乗る: to board a sleeper car
- 寝台車で旅をする: to travel by sleeper car
- 寝台車の予約: sleeper-car reservation
- A寝寝台車 / B寝寝台車: first-class / second-class sleeper car
RELATED TERMS:
- 寝台: berth; bed on a train — the bed itself.
- 夜行列車: night train — overnight train, often pulling sleeper cars.
- 寝台列車: sleeper train — an entire train made up of sleeper cars.
- 客車: passenger car — broader category including regular seating cars.