Riding Japan's Most Luxurious Bullet Train (to visit snow monkeys)

welcome to the fastest and most luxurious bullet train in all of Japan complete with these crazy seats and unlimited food and drink please be chocolate oh it's food today we'll be riding on bullet trains for seven hours as we travel from hokodate South to Tokyo and then West to Nagano throughout the journey we will be trying all three classes of service the bullet trains have to offer sort of a coffee because I can but our longest journey will be spent in Grand class which is the most luxurious seat that you can book on a bullet train there are only 18 seats in this entire car I'm not sure if we're more excited about the journey or the destination hold the train hurry hurry because this train is taking us to stay in our first traditional Japanese Hotel and to see the famous snow monkeys of Japan so stick around for an epic train journey that ends with super cute monkeys foreign [Music] good morning from the snowiest city in the world we are about to travel from here all the way to Tokyo in Grand class but our journey on our very first bullet trains actually started a couple days ago in haikode that train actually took us underneath the ocean to get here so before we show you the fanciest seat that you can ride in on a bullet train let us show you the cheapest which honestly is still really comfortable so this is what economy class looks like on a bullet train so if you're using one of the rail passes to travel around Japan and you reserve a seat this is most likely what you're going to be sitting in there are three seats on one side two seats on the other and my first impression of the seat is that it sits very straight up but the good news is they do recline quite a bit actually and there is a ton of legroom this is so crazy I somehow have full LTE in a tunnel underneath the ocean even if you don't have a phone plan there is free Wi-Fi on the train so between that train ride that you just saw and now we spent the day exploring omori and if you're traveling through this area of Japan I highly recommend a stop if nothing else just to visit the fish market and eat fresh Sashimi this is the most fun thing we've ever done and you go to the top of Mount hikota you're the most extreme weather I've ever experienced and now it is finally time to board the train in Grand class [Music] oh there's our train there's only one grand class car on the entire train and it's in the very front green card that's what we're writing next Grand class that's us ually look at the back of it hello that's the dragon nectar eating my back [Music] no way the door is bronze well even the baggage storage looks fancy oh that is a straight wall and it looks warped because we're going so fast our train engine is so cute she just gave this goodie bags that have branded water so what what chocolate she also just came around into our drink orders we've literally been moving for 30 seconds and all of this has already happened there can't be any other mode of transportation in the world that goes over 300 kilometers an hour with no signal that feels wrong to put grain class into perspective there are only 18 seats in this entire car the train that we took a couple days ago had almost a hundred so the configuration is a one two instead of a two three it honestly looks like a futuristic spaceship like the lighting in here and the shape of the windows let me give you a quick tour around our seats it's pretty much like an airplane seat except for you're in your own little pod so when you lean your chair back you're not actually getting in your neighbor's space this button sounds like it's doing something oh oh it's extending my it's extending my foot around if you have really long legs which I don't unfortunately we've tried tables of course expands we have created a luxurious premium space for those with Discerning taste who seek True Value and want the utmost comfort and freedom looks like it's a set menu with two different options we can get the Western option or the Japanese option we both got Japanese sure the food and drinks are Unlimited on this train so we started with a cup of hot green tea and a bottle of Sake Japanese rice wine I have no idea what's in this a grand class box but I'm going to open it and find out please be chocolate oh it's food the picture on the menu looked a little bigger I was like not sure what this is I believe this is fishing this kind of looks like a vegetable pie this one's great sockeye salmon wrapped in combo seaweed it's like sushi without the rice this is just mashed sweet potato it looks like a little Pokemon ball no yeah okay so we had heard online so smooth that you want to coin on its Edge and it wouldn't fall over I mean we are like very much at an angle there's no way that going to balance see if I put it in between the look at that I mean it is pretty incredible that a train can travel at 200 miles an hour and be this smooth honestly if we had bullet trains in the U.S I would choose this experience over flying every time just when you thought you knew a guy train travel gets rid of all the most annoying parts of flying but usually trains are slow here we're traveling all the way to Tokyo in three and a half hours and we didn't have to get here two and a half hours early we just walked right onto the plane I mean okay we're stopped this is a myth in addition to just the hard product of this being extremely nice our training is basically like a button that we can press whenever we want if we need anything is [Music] oh baby unsurprisingly it is extremely clean smells nice one of the many many reasons I'm in love with all of their toilets have good days what if I don't want there we go okay oh and touchless flashing there's somewhere to put your baby we have some seat cleaner oh gosh baby changing station because pretty nice isn't working for some reason the boys bathroom has a window so weird sorted a coffee because I can also heavy it's real coffee I was a little worried I'm so spoiled it's really fun just getting a quick Glimpse at all the little towns that are between the main tourist stops [Music] thank you please transfer this nation that was the fastest three and a half hours of my entire life it costs an extra 258 dollars to upgrade both of us to grain class so if you just want to travel from point A to point B comfortably it is totally unnecessary but if you're on vacation and you want to turn your transportation into an experience Grand class is pretty fun so this is the train that we just came in on and it just combined with this trade how crazy do these things look from the front our ticket is completely all the information we're sure of is that we leave at 4 32 20. 20 is not even on this let's try it this is pretty confusing but in our defense this is one of the busiest train stations in the entire world sorry for interrupting the video but I think that you will agree that it is a worthwhile Interruption I just wanted to remind you that we are giving away a free trip to Puerto Rico so if you're like us and you're a little sick of winter at this point and you need a nice long vacation at the beach this giveaway is for you all you have to do to be entered for the giveaway is sign up for our travel newsletter the daily drop it's that simple the winner is going to get five free nights at the Fairmont El San Juan plus two thousand dollars to spend on food and drinks while you're there and we're gonna throw in an extra fifteen hundred dollars to cover your flights there will be a link in the description below where you can sign up for our newsletter or you can scan the QR code here on the screen worst case scenario if you don't win the giveaway you're still signed up for our awesome travel newsletter it's gonna help you become a better traveler and save a ton of money on your next trip and I have a phone call so back to the video okay so we showed you the cheapest and most expensive ticket that you could buy on the bullet train now we're going to show you the middle ground this is called Green class and I'm pretty sure that's our train well they don't serve any food or drinks in Green class so I'm going to take the coin that they can never balance and get something out of the vending machine Let's see hot Japanese um [Music] oh wow those look fancy oh wait that was our seat this is home sweet home oh wow we're already moving that was so fast man Japan is always on time it's probably the most beautiful tarantula I've ever taken [Music] if we're sticking with the airplane theme for this this is kind of like the business class of military feels very similar to the economy class that we took there's just a tad bit more space and it's a little bit more plush I can straighten my legs I can lift my feet up nope that's the size I go it's like a leg lifter just to keep the blood flowing I can recline just so we've been so basically economy class is configured in a three two first class is in a one two and business class or green class is in a two two and once again to put in perspective just how much space we had in Grand class there are 64 seats on this car and there were 18 on our last car this train will take us an hour to takasaki [Music] one chocolate please oh what are these sticky things oh I think these are for kids [Music] just treating myself today [Music] you might be traveling with a little bit too much stuff to be fair that is our life in that bag not having to have a big puffy jacket on and gloves and a hat there isn't snow Frozen to the side of the train okay I will say Grand class was an experience and potentially worth it the in-between not so much we paid an extra eighty dollars for an hour in green class as opposed to whatever they call economy class we should really figure that out and you just got a little more seat room I mean it was no different than just traveling the cheapest way so I'd say either splurge and go for Grand class or just ride in the cheap seats because they're great [Music] okay so up to this point all the travel that we've done has been with this Jr South High Coda route pass this pass had we not upgraded ourselves to Grand glass or green class would have gotten us all the trains that we've ridden so far for free one pass costs 27 000 Yen so both of ours together costs 54 000. and I did the math this morning and I'm pretty sure we lost 15 by buying this pass but with that said it's allowed us to just like get on and off trains as we've traveled around Japan without having to worry about buying tickets going up to the machines all the annoying things so even though we lost 15 by buying this pass I still think it was worth it this specific pass the last destination that you could ride to within the area was takasaki I'm pretty sure that train that we were just on was traveling to Nagano but we had to get off and buy a completely separate pass because this no longer works and it expires today so no more Rail Pass from here on out good job any sense no as usual I just show up every day Nate is so good at planning her travels but he cracks me up sometimes this is what we've been going off of today when things get really complicated sometimes it's just better to write it down on paper all right we are back in economy you already know our feelings about this it's great and we'll see you in a couple hours okay we've made it to wherever we are and it's a little stressful because we have less than eight minutes to catch our next train but we have to get another train ticket and this train station is huge but a very nice lady handed us a piece of paper that's in English telling us where to go so we're hurry can you tell this is our first time traveling without the Jr pass it is not as easy as it's been so fast we have less than four minutes thank you everybody hurry up ah hold the train hurry hurry literally just made it it's oh what a journey today has been and now we get to walk 20 minutes to our hotel snow monkeys are gonna be worth it it's gonna take 45 minutes at this rate oh it's just so cold I can't move any faster no monkey Town it says won't you take me to [Music] this is a very small quiet town probably the smallest town we've ever been to in Japan and it's cool just to experience a totally different vibe from the big cities the walk was straight up and over a hill but I recommend it especially if you've been sitting and snacking on a train all day so tonight we're staying at our first ryokin which is a traditional Japanese hotel but we're not sure if this is it because there are a lot of buildings really close together on Google Maps and we can't read the sign I see the flip-flops are these the original flip-flops oh they're so hard they'll never hear me coming all of you I was really hoping it was going to be snowing when we went to see the snow monkeys but all I see is Blue Sky good morning what an experience last night was a ryokin is very different than your traditional hotel and there are about four different types of shoes that you need to understand to do everything right and last night I made all the mistakes for outside or inside oh no no no outside outside inside okay I think I made every mistake you could possibly make oh gosh I've watched the video what you were supposed to do when you got to one of these but these the wood ones or outside shoes oh shoes these are inside shoes oh and then there's a special mat and you don't wear any shoes on the special mat oh well really I just wore those inside and then the lady found me after we finally got settled into our room we spent the rest of night soaking in the Onsen baths which if you don't know are traditional baths here in Japan where basically you just take all your clothes off and you get into them with strangers then there's this do I get in that naked and then there's one more they also give you these traditional robes which are very different from normal robes that you receive at hotels because not only are you supposed to wear them in your room you're also encouraged to wear them throughout the hotel and even out around town we're about to go to breakfast in our robes but before we do let us give you a little tour of our room these are paper windows but thankfully there is glass on the other side because as you can see it is freezing we slept on the ground last night it's like a duvet that doesn't go all the way around the inside blanket we do have a TV our table and the chairs these just look so funny with no legs I think the way this works is during the day when you're not sleeping your bed actually goes in this closet this is the shower situation and then the last pair of shoes that you need to make sure you wear appropriately are the bathroom shoes and then you take them off before you go back into the room how I look ready for breakfast wow oh my shoes I always forget still messing up this morning oh my oh my private breakfast room with all these all these bowls of food and a flame yum I think it's tofu soup this is not your typical breakfast buffet but in a good way this is crazy having this much space for breakfast feels pretty ridiculous it's like a culinary experience to start the day I love all the little bitty balls okay we're gonna enjoy this amazing breakfast and then it is finally time to go see the monkeys cheers not sure if they have coffee here they're only serving green tea so if care is cranky when we're looking at monkeys that's why oh feels good to be back in the snow so we just took a free shuttle from our hotel that dropped us off at the entrance of the monkey Park and from here we have a 30 minute hike to get to the hot springs where the monkeys hang out all right so I have a love-hate relationship with monkeys at this point in my life and I decided a while back that I was not going to purposefully go hang out with wild monkeys ever again because the first time I tried was in Thailand one of them grabbed pulled in my dress I had to fling it around to get it off and if it would have bitten me I would have had to have gone and gotten a rabies shot at the hospital and then the next time we were in India and a monkey stole my sunglasses right off of my head and jumped up where I couldn't reach him and we had to pay a guy to get him to throw him back I'm hoping these monkeys changed my mind about monkeys you're gonna let me walk on the cliff so the story of the snow monkeys goes that in 1864 this Onsen behind me was built here in the forest and the monkeys got curious and they started coming down felt the warm water they liked it they got in they started warming up which is pretty crazy because monkeys are like cats they hate getting wet then all of a sudden these monkeys were just hanging out in the hot spring and then they had babies and then they taught their babies how to do it and this is one of the only groups of monkeys in the world that willingly gets wet and I guess at some point the Onsen owner got tired of the monkeys hanging out in his bath so they built some more natural baths up in the woods and that's where the monkey is hanging out now shut up [Music] oh they're cleaning each other [Music] this is so stinking cool I feel like I'm filming for National Geographic right now look at this one just flagging the water with its hand it's like it's trying to grab something they are so human-like look at their fingers oh look at those little hands he's like what's everybody doing down in the hot spring okay didn't take long I officially love monkeys again this was just digging in the snow dugging for our snack so all the Epic photos that you see of this place everything we just showed you it's all real it's incredible and it's totally worth coming for but this is also the reality and the part that you normally don't see behind the camera there are without a doubt more people than monkeys here but honestly it's been a great experience like if I would have seen a photo of this I would have been like not worth it but everybody's been very respectful just slowly working their way to the front to get their photos it gets a little crowded at times all right that is a wrap on this adventure we're about to walk back down the mountain then on to a bus then on to three more trains to get us back to Tokyo and that's what we'll pick up next week not the best night of sleep that's good I have no clue what that is but as good as my footage is it might as well be Sasquatch you know when your grandmother used to lick her finger and then try to wipe something off your face I feel like that's what's happening right now I'm so hungry that's been the theme of today it's that time of the month for Cara and for some reason all she wants is chocolate I mean and socket and coffee and tea and Sushi and ramen there's a Lawson there's always a losses you know what below Lawsons or 7-Eleven or Family Mart all three of them are on every corner in all of Japan in our experience and I thought it was a 7-Eleven girl but Lawson so I've been properly caffeinated now and I just had to share if you come here and you don't stop at incest Cafe to get a coffee and a homemade apple pie you are missing out the apple pie is six dollars but even I enjoyed it which is rare but the best part is people watching this road is a slope it's really icy it was kind of funny to watch everybody slip and slide down I'm allowed to laugh because I also felt thumbs up if you smiled at least once during the monkey scene the end please subscribe foreign

Channel: Kara and Nate

Views: 1,717,343

Keywords: bullet train, japanese bullet train full speed, japanese bullet train passing, japanese bullet train first class, japanese bullet train inside, japanese bullet train video, bullet train japan, first class train, train travel, japan train travel, japan train speed, japan train ride, japanese macaque, snow monkeys japan, snow monkeys, snow monkey park, jigokudani monkey park, japanese monkey, jigokudani snow monkey park, japan snow monkeys, japan monkey hot springs

Id: KU3OmYaGYnc

Length: 25min 14sec (1514 seconds)

Published: Sat Mar 11 2023