We're on the shinkansen
It was a bit of a rush to get on our train
Even though we left ages to get on it
It's a bit difficult going round busy stations with your suitcases
Today we're going from Tokyo to Shin-Hakodate-Hokuto
Which is in Hokkaido
It's going to take 4 hours
Then tomorrow we're going from Hakodate
To Sapporo
Which will be another 4 hours
If you do the whole thing in one go
It's 8 hours
From Tokyo to Hokkaido
But we decided to stop over in Hakodate overnight
So we can see what's there
And explore a bit more of Hokkaido on the way
And then when we come back to Tokyo
We're going to be stopping over
On the way back too
Just to see a bit more of Japan
Today we're going right to the end of the bullet train line
After that you have to change to a regular train
Which is why it takes just as long
To go a shorter distance
It's actually quite busy on the shinkansen today
I think there must be a lot of people
Especially other tourists
Going from Tokyo to Hokkaido
Because it's the Sapporo Snow Festival
So I'm going to take you with me on the journey
And show you what it's like
Doing 8 hours on the shinkansen
In real time!
I'm going to edit out the boring bits!
If you want to know more about taking the train in Japan
Have a look at my Japlanning series
There's lots of tips for planning your trip
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It's quite quiet on the shinkansen
So if you can't hear me
Turn the subtitles on
We're on the Hayabusa
Which is the fastest shinkansen there is
With your Japan Rail Pass
You're not allowed to go on the Nozomi
Which is the fastest shinkansen
Between Tokyo and Kyoto
And other parts of Japan as well
But you are allowed to go on the Hayabusa
Which goes between Tokyo and Hokkaido
For some reason!
It goes faster than the Nozomi
It goes up to 300km/hour
We've managed to put our suitcases
In a luggage section
That's near the doors
There is room in front of your knees
For a suitcase there
And you can put your hand luggage on the overhead racks
There's quite a lot of leg room
And there's little hooks
To hang up all your stuff
So it is pretty comfortable
And you get a little table
If you want to have something to eat or do some work on the train
The bullet train is pretty comfortable
And it's clean
When it gets to its final destination
A special team
Has just 7 minutes
To clean the whole train
It's been called the 7 Minute Miracle
We were in a rush to get to our platform
So the food options nearby weren't that great
Probably would have been better off going to the convenience store before we left the hotel
But I grabbed this fruit sandwich for breakfast
Fresh and tasty!
This one's got a mixture of fruits in
And sweet whipped cream
The bread's really soft & fluffy
I really like fruit sandwiches
Although this is 100km/h faster than other shinkansen I've been on
It actually feels pretty similar
It's really smooth
And the landscape moved by quite fast
So it doesn't get boring
We're just going into Fukushima prefecture
This is how far we've gone from Tokyo
In an hour
It's really amazing
You can go that far, that quickly
And here's where we're going...
All the way up here...
To Hakodate
In Hokkaido
This journey we're doing today
Is 4 hours on the bullet train
If you were to drive
It would take 12 hours
Trains in Japan are so good
That you really don't need to hire a car
Unless you're going somewhere remote
That you can't get to easily on the train
Every time I try & film out the window
The barriers come along
Or a big building or a tunnel or something
Agh!
I'm going to be looking out for the first snow
As we get further north
It's actually pretty warm in Tokyo today
It's early February
And it's about 17 degrees today
Which seems really warm
But when we get to Hakodate
It's going to be about -10!
I'm actually a bit scared
About how cold it's going to be
I've never been anywhere that cold
If you're taking the shinkansen
I would normally recommend that you book a seat
But on this train, the Hayabusa
You don't have a choice
You have to reserve!
There's no unreserved seats
It's covered by your JR Pass
And it doesn't cost anything to make a reservation
Usually you make your reservations at the ticket office when you get to Japan
But for JR East
You can reserve online
Jr East is the section above Tokyo
I always think of it as north
But they call it East
It's all in English
And you can make your reservations before you go
Then when you get to Japan
Pick them up from the ticket office
You have to specify which station you're going to pick them up from
And which day you're going to collect them
Here's some of the snacks you can get from the trolley on the train
There's dried sea pineapple
Salami
Cheese sticks wrapped in cod
Some nuts & things...
They've got cans of wine
These are the souvenir snacks
Sorts of regional things
Including: Tokyo Banana!
And on the back you can get a toy shinkansen
A special shinkansen pen
1100 yen
Tips to ensure a comfortable train ride
Don't make too much noise
And that includes typing loudly on keyboards
No talking loudly
Here's the map of the train
Green car is like first class
And Gran Class is even better than first class
It's very fancy
They're like airline seats
And I think you get a free drink & a hot towel
If you want to try out the green car
(that's first class)
You can get a special JR Pass
That gives you access
It costs a bit more than the normal one
But even standard class is better than most trains I've been on in the UK
I'd love to see what Gran Class is like!
I just spotted the first snow!
We're about halfway through the trip
It's 2 hours since we left Tokyo
Here's where we are: between Sendai & Morioka
Were in Iwate prefecture
Coming up to Hanamaki
We're just coming in to Morioka
This drink was delicious
It's mikan juice
It tastes a bit like satsuma juice
With loads of bits in it
To take this journey from Sapporo to Tokyo by plane
Would take 90 minutes
I wanted to take the bullet train
So we could stop over on the way
And if you have a JR Pass
The whole trip's included
So it's cheaper
But you can get internal flights
For less than 10,000 yen each way
So if you don't need a JR Pass otherwise
That could be the cheaper option
Here's the area between the carriages
There's the toilets out here
There's a little sink & a mirror
A multi-purpose room
There's a bin
This is where you're supposed to come if you want to make a phone call or anything
So you don't disturb the other people
Wow, it looks so cold now!
Looks kind of misty and really snowy!
It's interesting just looking out the window
At the scenery changing
Because we know Japan's a really densely populated country
And it's also really mountainous
And you can really see how every inch of the land has been used for something
Whether it's towns & houses
Or rice fields & farming
And the only parts that aren't used
Are the mountains
Which are all covered in trees
We're just coming into Hachinohe
And it's really snowy here!
We'd been through a tunnel for a bit
So I couldn't see what was outside
Then we came out and now it's snowing
And there's snow everywhere
For me that's exciting
Because in the UK it doesn't really snow that much
And I grew up near London
Where it hardly ever snows
So for me it's extra exciting!
Wow, it looks so misty out there!
Must be really cold
Phil's got an ekiben
It's a special bento lunchbox
That you can only get at shinkansen stations
And they're very fancy
I just picked this one completely at random
Because I was in a rush
This box looks like wood
But it's actually polystyrene or something!
Big reveal - go on!
So I've got... an egg
Erm...
I'm not sure what fish....
I'm not sure if that is fish
That's fish
Maybe a sesame mochi there
Something...
Some vegetables...?
A carrot there
I can't see what's below it
It's kind of hard to tell what some of these things are, isn't it?!
Yep!
I've got a choux cream pan
Choux cream bread
It says vanilla and whip
Like whipped cream
I actually thought this was cheese!
Again, it was another quick grab
From the kiosk on the platform
It's really soft bread
It actually tastes like brioche
And it's got like custard cream inside
It's quite sweet
It's pretty nice actually
Bit of a strange lunch!
I'm just having a couple of bits out of the ekiben
This is pickled plum
It's really strong!
This is advanced Japanese food!
This is the pudding in the ekiben
It's a mochi covered in sesame seeds
Filled with sweet red bean paste
And I do love sesames
It's really misty outside
Everything is white
This looks like Hokkaido
But we're actually still in Tohoku
That's the area above Tokyo
There's lots to explore here
It doesn't seem to be as popular with tourists
As the Golden Route down to Kyoto
So you don't tend to hear as much about it
But there's lots of places I'd like to go
This last section of the line
Between Aomori (I never know how to say that!)
And Hakodate
Started running in 2016
At the moment they're building tunnels to extend the line
So it goes all the way to Sapporo
It's going to be finished by March 2030
And when it's done
It'll take about 5 hours
To go all the way from Tokyo to Sapporo
Making it much easier to visit Hokkaido
We might be going too fast now
But there's sprinklers down there on the tracks
I guess to keep the snow off them
We're under the sea at the moment!
We're between the main island Honshu
And Hokkaido
The north island where we're going to
So no view out the window at the moment
This is the Seikan Tunnel
It's actually the longest tunnel in the world
It's only 3km longer than the Channel Tunnel between England & France
It's boring being in the tunnel!
There's nothing to look at!
We've got about half an hour till we get there
At Hakodate
We're in Hokkaido!
Oh!
Every time!
*chimes*
We've just arrived in Hakodate
And checked into our hotel
And this time we've got a traditional Japanese hotel
With futons!
And tatami mats
This is the Hotel Ekimae
And it's just by Hakodate Station
This room was only £47 for the night
It is a budget hotel
But all-round, rooms in Hakodate are cheaper than Tokyo
They do have normal rooms as well
But I thought it'd be fun to stay in the Japanese style hotel
So we've got tatami mats here on the floor
And the futons are ready to fold out for the night time
A nice Japanese pattern on the wall
Normally you'd sit on the bed in a hotel
Here we've got these floor cushions
Everything's low down
Because of that
We've got the TV
The table's low
This unit here... we've got a fridge
This is kind of a cute, old-fashioned thing
For the cups
And the bathroom in here...
Is your traditional, budget Japanese hotel bathroom really
It sort of comes as one whole unit
It looks like you could just take it out
In fact I think when they're building places
Sometimes they do arrive just as a bathroom pod
It's quite small
We've got the Japanese toilet
With all the buttons
We've got quite a few things:
Toothbrushes, cotton buds & things
And here's the bath & shower
And, as usual in a Japanese hotel
It's a shorter bath than you'd get in a western hotel
So there we are
I think it's pretty good for the price
It's quite nice
And it's a really good location
Right by the station
Ooh it's snowing!
That's the station just over there
We went a really roundabout way to get here
But it's actually very close
I actually really liked staying here
It's nothing fancy
But it had a nice feel
And I liked how everything was low down
It feels cosy
Sleeping on a futon
On the floor
Was strange at first
But it is actually really comfortable
They're so fluffy
It's like being in a cloud
And in a small room
It's really good to be able to fold them away
For more space
Next time we'll be venturing out into the snow
And minus 11 degrees Centigrade
To explore Hakodate
And see one of Japan's top 3 night views
I'll see you on Thursday!