🚅 Riding the Kamome SHINKANSEN 🚅 from Fukuoka to Nagasaki (Kyushu, Japan) 2024

What it’s like on one of Japan’s newest bullet trains: the Kamome Shinkansen, including how to change trains at Takeo Onsen Station.

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The Kamome shinkansen started running in autumn 2022, on the Nishi Kyushu Shinkansen line from Fukuoka (Hakata Station) to Nagasaki in Kyushu. The first part of the line is a regular express train called the Relay Kamome. Then you change trains at Takeo Onsen Station to the full speed bullet train to Nagasaki. The complete journey takes 1.5 hours. The trains are timed together, so to change at Takeo Onsen, you just have to cross over the platform. The video also includes what there is to do in Takeo Onsen, in case you want to spend more time there! I went on a day trip to Nagasaki from Fukuoka. A great tip is you get better seats if you reserve a seat – the reserved car is more comfortable and spacious than the unreserved car. Kamome means seagull in Japanese, because part of the trainline runs by the sea. The Kamome was the newest shinkansen in Japan, until the Hokuriku Shinkansen line was extended from Kanazawa to Tsuruga in March 2024. The video includes what it’s like on the train, reserving seats with a regional JR Pass, unreserved vs reserved car, what’s on the train and where to put your luggage.

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00:00 Kamome Shinkansen route
01:29 Northern Kyushu rail pass
01:41 Reserving seats
02:07 Hakata Station
02:30 Relay Kamome
04:11 Changing at Takeo Onsen Station
05:03 Kamome Shinkansen (unreserved car)
05:54 Arriving at Nagasaki
07:25 Return journey (reserved car)
08:35 Where to put your luggage
10:26 Review

#japan #japantravel #kyushu #nagasaki #fukuoka #kamome #shinkansen #bullettrains #japanesetrains

is travel more about the journey or the destination well today it’s about the journey we’re going on one of the newest bullet trains in Japan the Kam which runs in kushu the southernmost main island from Fukuoka to Nagasaki it started running towards the end of 2022 I’ll show you what it’s like how to change trains at Tao onent where to put your luggage and a little bit about reserving seats we’re in Nagasaki we’re here on a day trip from Fukuoka we came here on the brand new shinkansen line was not brand new it opened in December 2022 but it’s exciting for me to go on the new shinkansen it’s called the K which means seagull so the whole line from fukoka isn’t shinkansen the first section is a regular Express train called the relay K and then the second half from Tao onen onwards is the shinkansen they wanted to build the whole thing at shinkansen and maybe one day they will but from what I heard the people in Saga prefecture weren’t happy about the shinkansen line running through their prefecture because it’s so expensive but also because they were worried that if there was the shansen there people would just zoom through the prefecture and no one would come to visit I don’t know if that’s true I think it’d be easier to visit if the shinkansen ran there so the first section that’s a regular Express train takes just under an hour and then the shinkansen section from Tao onen onwards takes just under half an hour so the whole trip is just less than an hour and a half we’re using a Regional Rail Pass for Northern kushu you can go on as many shinkansen and Jr trains as you like in the unreserved car and this pass includes six seat reservations for free we tried to reserve our seats this morning but it said all the reserve seats were sold out we tried to reserve them when we got to the station which does work out sometimes but I guess cuz there’s only one train an hour to Nagasaki they were all booked up sold out car to oh res yeah oh dear so we just got on the unreserved car and it was fine it was quite busy but we got a seat these displays alternate between Japanese and English there’s our train the 10:04 to Nagasaki it tells us to go to platform 4 and there’s very clear signs to tell you where to go as always it’s very organized on the platform it tells you where to line up for each carriage I like how Jr qi’s trains say all around the youu this first train is the express train the relay K we’ll be changing to the shinkansen at Tao on sen station I was surprised how busy the relay cim was I don’t know if it’s always like this but this was on a weekday morning at the end of February so it’s not peak season and it’s not rush hour it’s very quiet on Japanese trains and it was busy so I didn’t F much talking on the train there’s a luggage rack for suitcases and overhead bins for smaller bags like on a plane here’s how much leg room you get I wasn’t sure if it was okay to eat you can generally only on longdistance trains in Japan so I asked the train attendant and they said yes we’ve got breakfast from the bakery I’ve got a cheese Ratatouille bread and Phil’s got a curry pan it’s like a Savory donut with curry inside we’ve also got this hash brown from the bakery it is cold not how nice it’s going to be it’s actually not bad it is quite greasy but it’s nice and crispy on the outside announcements on the train are in Japanese and English if you’re learning Japanese I think it’s fun to learn the train announcements you hear them quite a lot so it’s a good way to practice the journey was actually quite Scenic more so on the express train than the shinkansen I enjoyed seeing these lush green farming Fields with houses dotted around them and silhouettes of small mountains in the distance now we’re getting into Tao onen where you change trains so now we’re switching over from the relay K to the actual K Hasen they Park the trains directly next to each other so you just have to go across the platform it’s really quick the express trains and the shinkansen trains are Ed together together so you get off the train at Taco onen and you just have to go across the platform to get on the shanen here it is there was only 3 minutes to change trains which I thought sounded quite short but because it’s on the same platform it was really quick to change the change was really easy and not something you need to worry about at all if you want to spend more time in Tao onen there’s a large garden called muun Yama rakuen there’s an art museum called Ken and as the name suggests it’s an onen town so there are hot spring baths yellow I was excited it looks like a yellow version of the tokaido shin Canen we all know and love but there are actually lots of subtle design details like the seagull shapes on the ceiling because K means seagull we’ll see more of the Train on the way back we had a carriage pretty much to ourselves so I was free to film everything without annoying anyone there were fewer people on the shinkansen than the relay Comm you can take the express train all the way to Nagasaki and it’s a cheaper ticket so I guess that’s why it’s still a popular option see why does this always happen on the shinkansen as soon as I start filming out the window the barriers come along these seats recline so far [Music] back and now we’re coming into Nagasaki as it’s the end of the line I took advantage of the time time to take some photos of the train I didn’t expect so many people to come and take photos no I’m definitely not the only train n we just arrived at Nagasaki station and there’s a [Music] St that must be from Chinatown and the Western to buildings in nagataki there’s one for the new Kam sheet [Music] there’s a special vending machine here at Nagasaki station welcome to Nagasaki I’m guessing these are all local foods and local specialities there’s uh cat treats Neco cama I’m not a massive McDonald’s fan but at the moment you can get pom pom pin in their happy wheal that is pretty good there’s quite a lot of good stuff in Nagasaki station there’s all these places to eat there was a massive souvenir shop we had a fantastic day in Nagasaki walking around dejima Warf Chinatown the peace Park and Museum and up the ropeway to see one of Japan’s top three night views at Sunset all that will be in a separate video so subscribe if you want to catch it we ended up taking the last train back as we didn’t know what time we’d be leaving we didn’t book a seat in advance we just booked it when we got to the station and this time it worked out oh wow that’s different from the way here please take her ticket so it says in English what the trip is and your seat numbers it’s got all the [Music] details you can’t help but see the lights’s eyes I always think this one looks a bit like a dragon or some sort of creature for sure this Carriage has different seats from the one we were in earlier looks quite fancy I thought it was the green car to start with 8 C and D here’s our C oh we got a big armrest looks comfy the difference in the seats might be because we were in The unreserved Carriage last time and this is the reserved Carriage which is two on one side and two on the other instead of three and two unlike other shinkansen the kamome doesn’t have a green car and upper class but the seats in the reserved cars are more comfortable and more spacious than the unreserved car so that’s an incentive to reserve a seat the design of the train is very stylish even the intricate patterns on the floor there’s some bathrooms in between the carriages and here there’s a luggage rack at the end of The Carriage there’s one on the other side as well that’s different from some Shin Canen trains there will definitely be a seat that you need to reserve if you want to use this there we are it says oversized baggage area in most trains the seats with space for luggage are the end row of the carriage however some trains have a luggage rack like this one in those ones the spaces are still allocated to particular seats it doesn’t always make a lot of sense which ones but when you reserve a seat there’s an option to choose a seat with space for luggage so that’s the best way of making sure you get a spot so here’s the area between the carriages there some nice artwork of the K look at that really looks like an animal there doesn’t it it just wants some whiskers and this is a nice picture too here’s the bathrooms there’s two of them let’s have a look it’s got a normal Japanese washlet a little Basin to wash your hands it’s very clean and space to put your baby here’s another sink and mirror across here what’s this a little display I wonder if these are things from Nagasaki or the area little ex mini exhibition some more artwork of the Kim and there’s a waist spin out here too if you got any rubbish you’ve got to have snacks for the shinkansen and at the convenience store at Family Mar I found the special edition range for cat day so the 22nd of February in Japan is known as cat day because two two two sounds like and the sound cats make in Japan isn’t meow it’san I got the caramel vanilla chocolate cookie in a cat shape and it’s got muu sand on the packet super cute Phil got his favorite chocolate pound cake have a sweet time I really enjoyed going on the new or newish sh Canen it’s very clean and comfortable and it’s quite a Scenic journey I do feel a bit sad that the K just goes backwards and forwards along a half hour Journey all day when chinken are capable of going much further distances I hope one day they can complete the line all the way to fer and make it what it was originally planned to be if you’ve been on it tell me what you thought and which is your favorite shink kenen and I’ll be back next week with more videos about Japan