Lady Crystal and NYK's fuel cell boat in Tokyo

The Lady Crystal, the sightseeing vessel operating in Tokyo's Tennoz Isle area, is being replaced. In a release dated 15 June 2026, NYK Line said the new dining cruise ship enters service in 2027 with a hydrogen fuel cell system designed by Yanmar Power Solutions, storage modules supplied by Toyota and hydrogen supplied by ENEOS. The ship will be roughly 48 metres long, 9.5 metres in beam and about 480 gross tons.

What holds the schedule is approval, not equipment. In the same release, NYK states it has completed safety verification of the system under the guidelines of Japan's Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism.

The use case is deliberate too. A 480-gross-ton vessel on a fixed route inside an urban bay sidesteps the two bottlenecks that stall hydrogen in shipping: bunkering always happens at the same point and the required range is short. ENEOS supplies from stations already operating in the Tokyo area.

The regulatory gain is likely to outweigh the environmental gain of this single hull. Each verification completed under the Japanese guideline leaves a documented precedent, and it is that record that shortens permitting for the vessels that follow.