it's great this is the train we're gonna call home for the next 11 hours pretty difficult
having a shower on a moving train yeah amazing not gonna lie it really does look like a desert
uh tokyo an absolute concrete jungle and a million miles away from the nearest desert
or is it take a look at this if i were to show you this photo where would you think it is take a
guess maybe egypt dubai tim is yeah it is in fact here in japan that's right you've missed it the
entire time the great japan desert just south of tokyo well no not quite it is in fact a gigantic
sand dune in the prefecture of tottori about 500 600 kilometers south of tokyo now i've
always wanted to go to tottori but it's not an easy place to get to there is no bullet train
there is a night bus but that's a fate worse than death itself however i recently discovered that
there is in fact a sleeper train the night train won the last remaining night trains in japan and
say i've got two tickets one for me and one for japan's most eccentric man train leaves in about
two hours from tokyo station so let's go and see if the sand dunes of tottori live up to the
hype and if the sleeper train is actually any good let's do it i've never been in tortoli and a camel
hotel in train train in hotel reach well natsuki debates the powerful philosophical question of
whether it's a train or a hotel i run off to stock up on snacks for our 11 hour journey and
one that will take us from the heart of tokyo 600 kilometers west to the sea of japan coastline to
the secluded region of tottori a prefecture famous for being the least populated in all of japan
in recent years thanks to high-speed rail links and low-cost airline carriers traveling japan
has never been quicker cheaper or easier though sadly it means the many sleeper trains that once
roamed the country have all but disappeared in fact there were just two regular sleeper trains
remaining one of which is the one we're riding tonight the sunrise express what a romantic name
this is it guys this is the train we're gonna call home for the next 11 hours it arrives at
about 9 30 a.m in tottori looks really nice you can see inside you can see the room
look how smug he looks
boarding the train nats can i split off to our separate cabins as i put my feet up in the comfort
of my spacious twin room well guys here we are my twin room uh natsuki there's no natsuki in sight
thankfully he's got his own special room and i say he's special he's got a deluxe room
natsuki decided to splash big uh because he's treating this like a whole holiday i'm
so gonna go and see that skin a minute he keeps rubbing it in my face that he's got the good room
and in fact he's actually above me he's upstairs on the higher floor so we're going to see him in a
minute but first things first it's a cool room um even though the rooms are fairly close together i
can't hear anybody else at all because the noise the train sort of drowning it out but the sound
of the train is really relaxing it's kind of like an asmr experience like i think if i lay down i
could probably fall asleep pretty quickly so here we have the panel as you'd get in any hotel room
by your bed right light controls and things so we've got lights here one two listen to the radio
copyright claim uh and uh a heater as well which i strongly advise you not to use because the room
is already like a mini sauna it's very very hot and that's my only criticism of the room so far
it's pretty pretty unpleasantly hot uh there is a fan going but it's doing
absolutely [ __ ] up you'd get better results if you just face the warmth
blew against it apparently there's also showers on board the train which i'm going to test out
in a minute but first things first let's go and see natsuki in his luxury deluxe
fantastic accommodation i know he's going to rub it in my face bastard
relax time this room's massive king nesque palace king natsuki's palace
and only is that ham how you've got beer you've got ham and the beer
this is what the one percent looks like you're lucky oh thank you yes please description
it's a sync time it's come on
not
why is that good because don't fall down nice idea okay yeah strong well ask your cheers
thanks for having me in your deluxe palatial room very nice very chestnut
it's sitting by the window enjoying his ham and beer please hammer to you thank you asking
so all good journeys demand a snack and before we get on the train i spent
probably a hundred dollars but about 10 000 yen on snacks for nascar night me for you for me
a there's a place called the japan rail cafe the tokyo station and there you can buy
loads of kind of local dishes interesting foods as well as get help in english if you need it if you
ever get lost or you don't know what you're doing or you want some advice on traveling around japan
japan rail cafe but i've got various things first things first senbei crackers cracker yeah i think
they're sending what are they hanging mama hague this is like a number hug is kind of like a creepy
god of akita prefecture they use it to scare kids it's great the thing i'm most excited about
is this basically sausage is made out of cow tung gutum i like it and it's won an award so it must
be good thank you that's that morning we've got 10 kinds of rice crackers and finally we've got
edamame rice crackers oh famous from yamaha that's right all these kind of local food tohoku
it's like salami stick but better quality it hasn't got that kind of oily taste to it but
all fueled up on sausages and beer we leave a sleepy king natsuki to his luxury
room while i return to my standard twin room for a bento and an evening shower
there's something kind of romantic about going on a sleeper train like my favorite james bond
film from russia with love half of the film is set on a train and um i think i've done it in
about 10 years but i don't know just the the sound of the train moving the scenery going by
it's just a platform it's kind of creepy being below the platform but i know something
quite pleasant about it unfortunately they are going out of fashion in japan there used to be
a sleeper train that went from tokyo to hokkaido but they got rid of it in favor of a bullet train
because you can do it much quicker i think it's probably only a matter of time before this one
goes as well so if you come to japan and you want to ride a sleeper train
do it while you can obviously the the crossbar is depending on the size of the room like natsuki's
big spender room is about 140 whereas this one i think it's more like 80 or 90. but if you've got
the jr rail pass you can actually ride this train for free and kind of stay in the communal area uh
where there's lots of free beds that you can go in kind of like almost a bit like a dorm i guess so
pretty good value for money the comfort of a business hotel and the
excitement of being on a train i'm gonna finish this bento and then it's time for
a shower on a train something i don't think i've ever done before how is this going to work
it's pretty difficult having a shower on a moving train like everything just keeps shaking
it's like some sort of roller coaster ride but the shower works so the clock is ticking
you've got about four minutes to remain
i'd next to say that shower exceeded all expectations
apart from the fact that i only broke my leg three times it's rather good recommend
good morning how are you
good sleep yeah um holiday sleep holiday sleep the best kind of sleep yeah look at the scenery
looks super relaxed super relaxed and a good beauty it's good isn't it nice morning
whoa how did you sleep on a scale of uh one to ten natsuki maybe nine nine maybe four
four four good bit it's a good bet the bed's comfortable actually
um but the train every time it stops at a station there's a big announcement it's like
good morning well i could ask it out it's amazing it happens like every five for 10 minutes and
it's really annoying so just as i'm falling asleep again that happens and it uh woke me up
not a problem no japanese people are so good at sleeping and i have earphones that'll be white
many royal so many empty rooms yeah it's roman names solo solo rooms
for little little size for child for a child
i'm not staying
oh just oh nice it's nice yeah funny open window oh it's a good view good view
yeah maybe many stuff at night it's great nascar made a good point from these kind
of smaller rooms you can actually look up at the stars and at night it's probably a
really nice view in fact just during the daytime the view itself is pretty stunning
like i like the way they put the scenery front and center in the train not one possible not one
it's pretty cool going to sleep in tokyo and waking up in the middle of the japanese
countryside one of the most remote places in japan with just the most incredible scenery seriously
the rice fields the luscious forests traditional houses it's a beautiful place it really is
well guys it's 902 and the train arrives at 903 so better get going but
thoughts on the train in terms of how i actually slept i probably had three or four hours sleep
yeah and we better get going god this is our stop but yeah thoughts of the train
didn't sleep that well would i do it again yes now let's go look at some sand dunes quickly
as we wave the sunrise express goodbye at yanago station in tottori neither natsuki nor
i am prepared for the impressive site that awaits us along the prefectures coastline
i hate sand
bloody hell i have to say they are pretty damn big this is 50 meters high this sand dune and i
don't think the camera can really do it justice nor the drone but it is quite damn big what do
you think natsuki let's go let's go it's cool like my there's expectations reality a lot of um
japanese attractions often they look a lot better in the photos than they really are but
this is one of the few places that i've seen photos of and come to and actually felt like
it's the real deal it's really quite impressive 1-10 10 10. nice japan park
at 50 meters high and stretching 16 kilometers along the coastline tottori's naturally occurring
sand dunes took thousands of years to form although nature's work is being undone as the
sand dunes are shrinking as a result of tsunami sea walls that have gone up along the coastline
affecting the very sea currents that have deposited the sand still for now the dunes
remain a towering presence and having recently rode a horse on journey across japan natsuki
set his sights on another form of four-legged transport well come on camel come on oh my god wow
yeah amazing silk road still cried i experienced
serious style well guys we've seen the sleeper train we've seen the tottori sanjins i have to
say i think they live up to their reputation they are pretty damn impressive like it is bigger than
i thought it would be and uh i'd love to come back here and make like a parody film natsuki of arabia
or something natsuki arabia yeah it's the film that you neither need nor want nor deserve but
what was your highlight of the trip natsuki was your favorite memory from the sleeper train to
the sand dunes yeah only six minutes show our time the six minute shower more shower
i want more shower why is that your favorite memory and not towel you had no towel i forget
you didn't have a towel in the shower no oh my god so a six minute shower and then no towel how
did you dry yourself pandora with his hands oh my god on that note ladies and gentlemen
i think we'll end it thank you as always watching abroad in japan check out the orange band patreon
for more behind the scenes stuff but for now back to tokyo let's go let's go bye everyone
natsuki very bravely or very stupidly decided to go down the sanju
it's taking him like half an hour to get back up now
five sec five seconds to run down it and half an hour to get back up come on ashley you can do it