Today we're taking the train from Sapporo in Hokkaido
To Matsushima
A small town on the coast
Near Sendai
We spent one night here
To see one of Japan's top scenic views
I'll show you that in a separate video
Today I'll take you with me on the train
Then I'll show you the fanciest hotel I've stayed in, in Japan
There's new Japan travel videos on my channel every Thursday
If you want to subscribe
First we're taking the Hokuto Limited Express
From Sapporo to Hakodate
It takes about 3.5 hours
But there were some lovely views along the way
This isn't a bullet train
BUt they're working on one for this route between Sapporo & Hakodate
So in a few years' time
This journey will be much quicker
They're aiming to make the whole trip between Tokyo & Sapporo
Less than 5 hours
It's not quite as comfortable or spacious as the shinkansen
The bullet train
But it's not bad
At the moment it's quite crowded
Because it's Sapporo Snow Festival time
This is warm coffee in a bottle
From the convenience store
You can find it in what looks like a fridge
But it's warm
It's really sweet
I think it's got about 20 sugars!
We changed at Hakodate
To the bullet train
This is the Hayabusa
And it's the fastest one
The name means peregrine falcon
So it's named after the world's fastest bird
I think the shinkansen looks really cool
I just love how it looks
This line goes from Hakodate in Hokkaido
All the way down to Tokyo
But we'll be getting off at Sendai
To go to Matsushima
We just wanted to break up the trip
And explore a bit more of Japan on the way
There's actually lots of interesting places in Tohoku along the way
I'd love to see more of them
Now usually on the bullet train
Reserving a seat is optional
But on this train you have to reserve
You can do it online before you go
It's pretty comfortable on the shinkansen
So doing a long journey really isn't a problem
We were on here for 2 hours 40 minutes
From Hakodate to Sendai
And for a long journey
You gotta have snacks
Let's take a look through the shinkansen
This is a rest area between the carriages
There's places to freshen up
And if you need to make a phone call
This is where you can do it
You have to be quiet when you're in the carriages
This is also the only rubbish bin you'll find on the bullet train
I had to be quiet
Because there were some people standing there
Who probably thought I was kind of strange for filming the toilets
Don't make the train cry
From Sendai it's about half an hour on the local train to Matsushima
Which is on the coast
This was quite a long travelling day
We left Sapporo at 10 in the morning
And got to Matsushima at quarter to six
But this was one of my favourite places from the trip
So I'm really glad we went
There'll be videos coming up to show you what it's like
We've arrived in Matsushima
After about 6.5 hours on the train today
On the way from Sapporo
It was quite a long journey
But we're here at our hotel, which is the Ichinobo Matsushima
And it's a very big room we've got!
This is a much fancier hotel
Than I'd normally book
But I had a voucher
So we splashed out
For our final night of the trip
Ok this was the final night of the trip
But it's not the end of the series
I've mixed it up, so we're not in chronological order any more
When you first come in there's this little entranceway
This is the same in Japanese houses
You have a little area by the door
Where you put your shoes
Then you don't wear shoes inside the house
They've given us these slippers to wear
Inside the room
We also get these disposable slippers
Which it says you can take home with you if you want to
It looks like a whole apartment when you're here
It's a bit of a strange arrangement for the bathroom
In here we've got the sink
Here's the amenities
You a Ladies Set
Which is a hair band, some cotton buds & some cotton wool pads
That's what ladies need apparently!
There's some hair brushes
What's this? A hair band
A head band
Some toothbrushes
Then the shower's in here
Let me put the light on & show you
The shower's a separate bit on its own
With 2 shower heads
That looks good
That's quite spacious in there
Then the toilet's over here
In a little cubicle on its own
There's some more slippers here
To wear in the toilet
Here's the Japanese toilet buttons
This is another quite Japanese thing
When you flush the toilet
The water comes out here
As a tap so you can wash your hands
I guess it saves space & water
This arrangement for the bathroom isn't typical of Japanese hotels at all
Most of the ones I've stayed in
Have had really tiny bathrooms
Or those bathroom all-in-one pods
So this is really different
Now let's go through to the main room
Look how big it is!
This is massive compared to all the other hotels I've stayed in, in Japan
But we're not in the city here
Matsushima is a seaside town
The whole place seems a bit more spacious so far
It's got a nice traditional Japanese look
In here
There's a fridge-style wardrobe
The light comes on when you open the doors
And they've given us pyjamas
To wear around the hotel
It says it's ok to wear these outside your room
And we also get these stylish waistcoats
This hotel's also got an onsen
It's got an outdoor bath on the top floor
So you can wear these as you're going to the onsen
Or to the bar in the lobby
There's a little area with tatami mats
Down here by the phone
We've got a little sofa
Phil's modelling
You can't see at the moment
But this view is amazing
The hotel's got a really nice garden
There's a swimming pool out there
It's February at the moment
So I don't think anyone's going to be using that for a while
But you can see the bridges are lit up
Earlier on they had flaming torches out there
And it looked really pretty
I don't know if you can see, it's still snowing a bit
It's quite a big hotel
You can see the rest of the building going round that side
The sea, over there
It was dark when we arrived
So we haven't seen it yet
But the sea is that way
I'll show you in the morning when it's light
Another unique feature
This door here
You think it's a cupboard
No it's not!
It's a mirror?!
That's hidden behind a door
For some reason
There was a time when I was staying in a hotel
I got up in the night
Put the light on
Hadn't realised there was a mirror right beside me
I saw someone standing beside me
And it really scared me
So if only I'd had a mirror like this with a door
It wouldn't have been so scary
Round this side of the bed
We've got a sideboard with tea & coffee making facilities
And cupboards down here to put stuff in
BUt we're only here for 1 night
So I don't think we'll be doing much unpacking
This is so much bigger
Than a normal Japanese hotel room
And it's really nice
As I said, this is much fancier than a hotel I'd normally stay in
So I'm really looking forward to breakfast tomorrow morning
There's a buffet
And I think it's going to be really good
There's also an open air onsen
On top of the hotel
Now this is February
And while it feels warm to us
Compared to how cold it was in Hokkaido
The temperature's still just above zero degrees C
So we didn't really fancy it
But apparently they also have free ice cream up there
The view was beautiful
This was such a lovely place to stay
You can see some of Matsushima Bay
Which is known for hundreds of tiny islands
There's more of that coming up
Now it's the morning
And we're at breakfast
I wish I could show you more of the buffet
But I didn't want to disturb other people having their breakfast
We felt a bit out of place
Because everyone else was wearing the pyjamas & waistcoats from their room
We don't usually have breakfast at the hotel
But they had a really good buffet
A lot of it was cooked fresh
And there was a lot of fish
I had udon with sesame dressing
I think it was supposed to be for the salad
But I love sesames
Then we went for a walk outside in the gardens
No one else was out there
Because it was pretty cold
The garden probably looks better when it's not the middle of winter
And everything's a bit more green
But I think it's still a lovely view
Even if I was just there fore 1 night
This was a lovely hotel
I forgot to mention
The other good thing is
In the evening, they have free beer in the lounge
I can't wait to show you the rest of Matsushima
It was really beautiful
Remember to have a look at my designs
On cakeswithfaces.co.uk
Especially when you're starting your Christmas shopping
And I'll see you next week on Thursday