[4] Reporters from the United States rode the inaugural train, complimenting it on its speed and luxurious comfort, and praised Mantetsu's efforts at developing Manchukuo.

Service was resumed in December of the same year, but on 28 February 1943, due to Japan's deteriorating situation in the Pacific War, the Asia Express was discontinued, and the equipment was reassigned to other duties; some of the passenger carriages were converted to hospital cars.

There were two variants of the Asia Cocktail, the Green based on vodka with peppermint liqueur added, and the Scarlet, made with Cognac and grenadine syrup.

[1] The consist was made up of lightweight, streamlined passenger carriages designed expressly for use with this train and built at the Shahekou Works.

Although the issues were eventually solved, the air conditioners were initially problematic, with one newspaper commenting that the heat in the train in the summer was "more like Africa than Asia".

[2] Mantetsu achieved a world first through the use of lightweight, streamlined, air-conditioned carriages with sealed windows on the Asia Express[1][4] - it wasn't until 1938 that such cars entered service in the United States, on the New York Central's 20th Century Limited and the Pennsylvania Railroad's Broadway Limited express trains; although the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad's Columbian was the first in the world to use air conditioned stock from 24 May 1931,[9][page needed] followed by the B&O's Capitol Limited and the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway's George Washington in 1932,[10] these earlier trains used refurbished, heavyweight cars.

[12] The Asia Express remains in Japanese consciousness even now, with items as diverse as USB memory sticks and Zippo lighters bearing its image being marketed.