Night trains discontinuation

Hi,
I heard rumors about all the night trains of Japan will discontinue next year. Is this true?
When will this happen in the year? Anyone knows?

I'm not aware of any plans for a wholesale cancellation of all night train services, but they've been in decline for years and some prominent services are being progressively phased out. The imminent opening of the Hokkaidō Shinkansen is an important contributing factor, along with the age of some of the older trains, and of course passenger volumes.

Along the areas to be served by the future Hokkaidō Shinkansen, I've read that the Twilight Express will be axed next spring...

http://jprail.com/trains/sort-by-type/overnight-trains/overnight-expre...

...along with the Hokutosei (although it might still be brought online as a seasonal service).

http://jprail.com/trains/sort-by-type/overnight-trains/overnight-expre...

I think the Cassiopeia has also been slated for withdrawal from service.

On the other hand, JR Kyūshū have just put on a new overnight service, although it's more of a cruising line rather than an A-to-B route like the ones that they're cancelling in the north.

http://www.cruisetrain-sevenstars.jp/en/index.html

Cheers.

Thank you for your reply Diego,

By seasonal service, do you mean like high travel seasons like Obon and Golden Week? Sounds like that would mean it would be impossible to travel by night train except for the Sunrise maybe?

The Hokutosei is already "seasonal", meaning it does not run every day. Far from it: in the period from October 5 to January 5 this year, it runs a grand total of fifteen days.

http://www.jreast.co.jp/cassiopeia/hokutosei/time.html

The website linked by Diego does not cite its source for saying the Hokutosei will be discontinued, so take it with a grain of salt, but in any case, it runs very infrequently. The Cassiopeia, on the other hand, runs every day.

Sources:

Until Mar 2015
Hokutosei determined (4 Dec 2014) http://www.hokkaido-np.co.jp/news/topic/578283.html
Twilight Express officially announced (28 Mar 2014) http://www.westjr.co.jp/press/article/2014/05/page_5700.html
Cassiopeia discussed (29 Mar 2014) http://www.asahi.com/articles/ASG5X4S39G5XIIPE00S.html
planned (7 Nov 2013) http://web.archive.org/web/20131108004147/http://mainichi.jp/select/ne...

Continue to operate
Sunrise Seto/Izumo (7 Nov 2013) http://web.archive.org/web/20131108004147/http://mainichi.jp/select/ne...

Yes, it has been officially announced that the Hokutosei will be sort of suspended

http://www.jreast.co.jp/cassiopeia/hokutosei/time.html

However it may still run as a "special train" when the state of the tunnel work for the Hokkaido shinkansen permits it, so not sure i that will change much since it already operates very rarely. Nothing similar for the Cassiopeia yet.