(Bus Announcement) "Thank you for using Willow Express. This bus is bound for Nagano."
So I realized I never made a daytime bus
video so I figure why not. Today I'm off to the wonderful snowy prefecture of Nagano from
Tokyo and right now I just got to Shinjuku station which is one of the largest if not the largest
station in Tokyo. My bus comes at 10:30 and it's just past 10 o'clock now so I'm just
going to head over to the bus terminal... so yeah come along as we go from A to B :)
Shinjuku is the world's busiest train station with 35 platforms. Pandemic or not it's still a
bustling place and to be honest I avoid it as much as possible. But with big train stations comes big
bus terminals and Shinjuku is a favorite starting point for many highway buses. The bus terminal is
located across the street from the station but it's accessible underground from the platforms.
Just head for the New South Exit and try your best not to get lost along the way. A side note here I
didn't know my camera was set to 25 frames per second for some time. I noticed it later on in
the trip so in a few moments we'll be back up to a butter smooth 60 frames per second.
Now this New South Exit area is relatively quiet compared to the rest of the station and on nice
days and evenings there will be individuals enjoying themselves in the area outside.
The bus terminal is located on the fourth floor and before you get in there's a temperature
checkpoint and if I don't pass this there's no bus for me today.... phew! all right we're good to go!
On a midweek morning the terminal wasn't too busy. During the evening when night
buses depart it can get quite hectic and it's a good idea to find a bus stop once you get here.
Easter Egg: You can buy tickets to the airport form these machines!
Today we'll be leaving from D12.
The bus terminal has a Family Mart, another shop and a bunch of vending machines
and if you're looking for anything else well... you're in Shinjuku
anything you could possibly want is a stone's throw away.
The bus was full for today's trip with many headed home for the New Year's holiday.
Once 10:30 rolled around we were on our way!
(Bus announcement)
"Thank you for using Willer Express. This bus is bound for Nagano.
This bus will stop at Taobu Yamaru, Real Hotel Nagano, Nagano Washimada, Nagano station.
we Would like to inform you about our preventive measures against the COVID19.
Please wear a face mask and refrain from talking and eating inside the bus.
The air inside the bus is completely replaced constantly.
Following announcement are bus manners" It's about a 230 kilometre journey from Tokyo to Nagano city.
Once through the mountain passes it's smooth sailing to the prefecture's capital.
The coach has four seats per row with space above to store s mall bags.
There were blankets up there which were available for passengers.
There isn't a whole bunch of room however so any bulkier items would have to be placed below on the
floor or in the trunk beneath. Some Willer Express buses have washrooms, but this one did not.
Each seat has a reading light and air control and if you're taking the bus in the summer
have something warm with you as they tend to keep the AC pretty cranked on the buses.
These seats are Willer Express's relax product and I find them perfectly suitable for both day and
night trips. The seat has a headrest, retractable cover to keep up the light, and a leg rest which
extends from beneath the seat. Off to the side a USB charging port can be accessed. One drawback I
found is that divider between the seats which was installed as part of their covet control measures.
I found it uncomfortable with the shoulders and found myself sitting off-centre at times.
I think the window seat provides you with just a bit of extra space compared to the aisle seat
and I opted for that on my return journey.
And if we rewind back to a time before corona and my first night bus video which had the same seat
we can see without that middle divider where a cup holder used to be. The seats back then also had a
standard outlet. The nice generous recline offered is the reason why I think it's a great option
when traveling at night. It took about an hour to wiggle our way through Tokyo traffic and to
get out of the city and it was about this time when he took our first break. Unlike traveling
at night when many shops are closed it's all open now let's head inside and see what we can find!
EE: This is where I noticed camera was 25fps. Had to do the next shot twice!
So it was about 11: 30 when we stopped at this service centre and you can see there's
a Starbucks there, loads of vending machines, and then the main building and it was actually
a pretty nice day today not too chilly but you definitely needed a jacket... and you know it's
great just to get outside the bus to walk around, take the mask off for a little bit.
On the outside of the building you'll see these smaller vendors they're great for
handheld, something small/ something fast if the bus is only stopped for
maybe 10 minutes anything else you'll have to go inside.
And here you'll see there's dozens of options anything you possibly want
is here and it's pretty straightforward in the machine they're all number coded.
It was just a few days before Christmas so we see a little bit of the Christmas uh
decorations kicking around. I saw this place, this kind of caught my eye that looks pretty good
so if you're looking for a fried pork sandwich or
some type of meal this is the place yeah looks pretty looks pretty tasty I'm not gonna lie.
And then the stations I love how they have this this free tea / water dispenser. If you have a
water bottle you can fill up with water or tea or you have like an instant coffee there's hot
water here too. This is great, I always say it's a bit dry on the bus so it's good just to
refill your liquids while you're here. And then off to the left you can see there's a whole bunch
of omiyage (gifts) and all that stuff. And then at the end you have these coffee vending machines.
Any type of coffee combination you can think of it's probably in these machines (hehe). There's
dozens of options and then outside on the ends you can see there just have just half the washrooms.
It was actually pretty busy, it was almost lunch time here so lots of cars and trucks
at the service station and hmmm what's this... Hot Snack...dumpling steamed bun
So I actually picked it up and it wasn't too bad. it was uh pretty big and I find steamed.
buns very filling so after this I will set for the rest of the afternoon. Anyways
just time to jump on the bus and then we'll continue on on our way to Nagano.
We left promptly at 11:55 and started to make our way through the mountains
which separates Gunma and Nagano prefectures so it's best to take a few moments to look
at the entertainment which you can expect. Willer provides free wi-fi on board it's
not the fastest in the world, but it gets the job done and it's easy to connect to.
Also they have their in-bus streaming with their Willer Theater app. This is actually a
nice streaming product which has a good selection of videos. I was able to access it on my bus to
Kyoto but for whatever reason I couldn't get to work on this particular bus unfortunately.
Anyway I love this particular part of the trip once leaving the mountain pass
it just opens up and we're greeted with fantastic views of the valley.
We got into the city at around 3pm it was a little chillier here compared to Tokyo and we can see
the dusting of snow on the roofs. The bus made a couple prior stops before reaching Nagano station.
All right so that's the day bus it took about five hours to get to Nagano with a couple breaks
in between and overall not a bad trip great views of the mountains during the day. I really enjoyed
the scenery, it's a lovely day today. The only thing is that uh they put in that middle console.
I think they did it for corona and it's a little awkward. There used to be the cup holders and
an armrest there but they they took that away it's a little awkward with that um that divider
cushy thing there but other than that I mean for 26 bucks 25 bucks
not a bad deal cheap way to get around the country and yeah so anyways I think I'm going to leave it
there I'm going to go check out Nagano now thanks for watching and I'll see you around next time!