Shinkansen is a fast train service connecting
different parts of Japan from northern Hokkaido to Kyushu in the south. It has a separate rails
from other train lines, and shinkansen is running as fast as 320 kilometers per hour which is 198
miles per hour. Probably the most major route is Tokaido Shinkansen. You will take it when you go to
Nagoya, Kyoto and Osaka, and it directly connects to Sanyo Shinkansen that connects to Hiroshima
and Fukuoka. Further from there, there are Kyushu Shinkansen to Kagoshima. To the north there are shinkansen network going
to Kanazawa, Niigata and the farther north to Tohoku and Hokkaido region. Today I'd like to
take the most major route Tokaido Shinkansen to Kyoto, and show you how to get on the
shinkansen and what a trip would be like. So now I'm at the Tokyo Station
so let's go to the shinkansen gate. From Tokyo you can get on Tokaido Shinkansen
either from Tokyo Station or Shinagawa Station which is the next stop of shinkansen. You can get
tickets at the ticket machine or at the counter. Some machines are just for the use of
credit card. The price changes slightly depends on which train type you get and
which class you want to get. Let me explain. First, Tokaido Shinkansen has three types of train: Nozomi, Hikari and Kodama. Nozomi is the fastest service and it stops
only major cities such as Nagoya and Kyoto. It runs frequently and you see Nozomi is
leaving to Osaka every five minutes or more in the morning. Even in the daytime it doesn't
open 10 minutes before the next Nozomi. It connects Tokyo to Osaka in exactly two hours
and 30 minutes, and 2 hours and 16 minutes to Kyoto. The next one is Hikari. Probably most of
international travelers are familiar with this one because if you have JR Rass this is
the fastest service you can ride without any additional cost. It makes two or three more
stops on the way to Kyoto. It takes 2 hours and 54 minutes to Osaka, and 2 hours and 40 minutes
to Kyoto so it takes 24 more minutes than Nozomi It's still fast enough. Kodama is a local shinkansen train that stops every station. It waits for Nozomi and Hikari pass by at almost every station
but the speed is actually as fast as other types of trains. Kodama takes about 3 hours and 40
minutes to Kyoto, and 15 minutes more to Osaka. Now that you decided which train to take, you
have three choices of cars. Green Car is a first class car and a regular cars reserved seat called
shiteseki and non-reserved seat which is called jiyuseki. The most common regular seat is 14,170
yen to Kyoto and 14,720 yen to Osaka. Non-reserved seat is a little more
cheaper and your seat is not decided. You need to line up the platform to get seats,
but you can get the seat for sure from Tokyo Station, especially if you are taking Nozomi
which runs frequently. If you missed a train you got your seat reserved, you can get on the
non-reserved seat of any shinkansen after that on the same day. All Tokaido Shinkansen
train has 16 cars, and car number 8 to 10 is a Green Car which is first class. For Nozomi,
car number one to three is non-reserved car and for Hikari, 1 to 5 is non-reserved seat. There is a
new rule for luggage size on Tokaido Shinkansen. There are no luggage check-in system on shinkansen, so somehow you need to keep it with you. But from mid-2020, Tokaido Shinkansen started to limit the
baggage size that you can bring on the train. The total dimension of the suitcase has to
be smaller than 160 centimeters which means you can put up on the shelf above your seat.
In case you have a larger suitcases you can book the seat with luggage space. You can
book these seats without any extra cost. So I checked with the ticket machine and there
is a way to specifically purchase that seat. In case you couldn't get that seat with luggage
space and get on the Tokaido Shinkansen with large suitcases that cannot be put above your
head, there are two things to expect what happens. One thing is you cannot put your luggage on
the back of the seat even if there's a space. The space is only for passenger book that seat
right in front of that space. Train conductor might charge you a thousand yen, and they will
take your suitcase to the storage space. Not many Japanese passenger travel with big
suitcases, but as the international tourist increase, it might get difficult to get that seat
especially on Hikari which JR Pass users use, so you might want to make reservation when you know
schedule. You can book online too which I'll show you after. This reservation page in English so
let's choose the date for example November 10th Tokyo to Kyoto and this one - make sure you choose
bring oversize luggage/baggage and continue. And here's a price for ordinary car. It will be 13,770 yen and surprisingly with a
1,700 yen plus you can get on the Green Car if you book early, and this Green Car of shinkansen
is very comfortable. Well let's choose ordinary car. And lets view seat map. So since I chose the
oversized luggage you can choose this number 18. I guess this is the only row that you have a
big luggage space behind you. You can bring a big suitcase right behind you so you don't have
to worry that someone is going to take accidentally your luggage. And the prices start at 13,770 yen
no additional charge for the luggage space and you just purchase, but even if you purchase you
can change the designation anytime to different shinkansen and trains. The only thing it costs
a little bit to get refund. I think it's like five dollars so that's good to know. Now it's a fun part. Let's get some food and get on the train. At Tokyo Station you see people rushing to one
store that says Ekiben which means station meal box. It's common to get this bento
box and eat on the train. There are tons of selection from all over Japan. You might
see this many selection only in the morning. They have this oyster bento that you can steam up
on the train, but once I got it, the whole car around me smell like oysters so maybe next time. So I get
this salmon rice from Hokkaido. The ekiben costs around a 1,000 yen to 2,000 yen. It's a little
pricey, but it's always fun to eat on the train. In this trip, I'm using Nozomi to Kyoto in regular
reserved seat and coming back by Kodama with green car so I can show you different types of train and
cars. Based on the reservation information, I could get the paper ticket. Since Tokaido Shinkansen is
operated by JR Central which is called JR Tokai in Japanese, you cannot receive this paper ticket at
JR East counters which you see everywhere in Tokyo. In Tokyo, Tokyo Station or in Shinagawa Station is the
only place you can get your paper ticket. This is a typical ticket of Tokaido Shinkansen. It says Tokyo
to Kyoto October 24th leaving at 7:12 arriving 9 23. Nozomi 125 car number 13 seat 13 E. I have
this ticket at 7:12. so Nozomi is the yellow one. Hikari is a red one and blue is a Kodama one.
Let's wait for the Nozomi 125 to Hakata. Hakata is in Fukuoka City. Check the platform of the train you get on and
the platform will be decided when they decide the timetable so you don't have to wait
until it comes up. So I'm heading to platform 19. This is my seat. Probably you have your
ticket in your hand until you arrive the seat. And make sure you keep that in your
wallet or pocket once you find your seat, because unlike airplane, you need a ticket to
get out the gate at the destination station. Now let's open the lunch box and enjoy
the meal as you see the scenery. Shinkansen doesn't have a dining car
or kitchen anymore so you need to get things before you get on shinkansen,
but on Nozomi and Hikari, they also sell drinks and lunch box and some snacks
at the wagon so I got ice cream and coffee. Shinkansen opened as a fast rapid transit system
in the world before the first Olympic game in Tokyo in 1964. Even though there are highway
buses and airplane between Tokyo and Osaka, shinkansen is still the most competitive
way to travel especially from Tokyo to Kyoto. It's a big advantage that you
can get off in the middle of the city Now we arrived Kyoto. As for the Kyoto trip
I'll show you in the next video. Now let's go back to Tokyo with Kodama. This time I
used Kodama's Green Car. As said before Kodama takes time, but if you are not in a rush
you can buy this ticket called Platt Kodama. I'm at Kyoto Station and going back to Tokyo I'm taking the special
ticket called Platt Kodama. You can take for slightly cheaper price than taking normal Nozomi train or regular car it takes so much more time than Nozomi, but when you have time and you
wanna just work on the train or when you want to do just sleep on a train and you're not in the
rush to head back to go to Tokyo it's a good idea because the Green Car is so much better seat and
also you get one free beer when you get on. You cannot purchase this ticket at the ticket machine ,
and this has to be purchased online a day before your departure. But you can get on the Green Car of
Kodama for 12,100 yen between Tokyo and Kyoto, and 12,300 Yen between Tokyo and Shin Osaka. Now
let's see the major difference from regular seat. Green Car seat is two and two row, so the
seat feels much wider than the regular seat. There is a foot rest, and you have a reading
light. For Platt Kodama the drink ticket also comes out of the machine with your ticket
and you can exchange to one bottle drink or canned beer at kiosk. If you want to try
Green Car, Platt Kodama is a good choice. I hope you get some idea on what
it's like to be on shinkansen. Thank you for watching. I hope you
have a great week until the next video.
