The BEST Bullet Train? Discover the MOST Popular High-Speed Train in Japan! 🇯🇵
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Join me on a trip aboard one of Japan’s most advanced and widely used Shinkansen trains: the N700 series. Found throughout eastern Japan and with nearly 200 units in service, it’s the most popular Shinkansen model ever built. Together, we’ll explore this incredible train and take a closer look at the state of Japanese high-speed rail travel in 2024.
Train type: N700 Shinkansen
Route: Hiroshima to Hakata
Train: Sakura 553
Distance: 248km
Journey time: 1h5m
Average speed: 228 km/h
Price: From 53,70€
Thumbnail picture by: Cheng-en Cheng from Taichung City, Taiwan, CC BY-SA 2.0
30 Comments
This is a nice train trip video and n700 looks cool
Just call 500 series
gotta love that vvvt on the trams
i like theese pinoccio trainsets
Just fun fact, N700 series 8 cars especially Set S and R cannot enter tokaido shinkansen to tokyo because lack of the tilting mechanism
N700 is the most powerful looking of the modern Shinkansen, imo.
Sakura itself was responsible to replaced all Hikari services whose route only served Sanyo Shinkansen. Hikari inside Sanyo Shinkansen only available for those start or terminate at any station within Tokaido Shinkansen
Nice review!! 8:56 Did you mean to say "west of Tokyo"?
So no Gran Class car on this train? Woulc still love to travel that option.
The tickets are indeed expensive, on par with what we have in Switzerland. While Japanese yen isn't too strong at the moment and inflation is relatively high, I wonder, how locals can afford these trains on a regular basis? Are there (many) subsidized tickets for locals? I am aware of the passes like JPass, but I'm curious about the local ones, not for the tourists.
Thanks for the report. Japan is the place where modern concept of HSR was invented and implemented, so it's always nice to see the original "homeland" of the HSR. Japan does seem to be a bit stuck in the 80s with its public technology though. I was quite surprised on my visit to Japan a couple of years ago how much analogue stuff they still use like rubber stamps, dot matrix printers and somesuch. Even my JR Pass which I "purchased" online had to be printed, laminated, I had to fill in like 3 separate "forms" providing the most useless random information, get it rubber stamped and, naturally, wait in a queue for an hour or so to get all of this done while being "assisted" by at least 4 separate lovely and smiley JR Staff one of whom would bring me the "form" to fill in, another one would bring a pen, the third one would collect the form 😀
Not sure if i can call this "advanced" by any standard, but it was sure entertaining. The trains and their cleanliness and punctuality, of course, are excellent and something to envy.
Excellent video Simon I love your channel ❤
If you like the sound of the trams you'll love the UK class 323s found around Manchester
The Mazda on display at the station is because that Hiroshima is home of the Mazda Corporation
I guess this is the fastest average speed you have tried?
Great video Simon. I go to Europe every year for the trains. I'm thinking of going to Japan next year.
I love the sound of the trams. It sounds like the Jubilee line in London.
Too bad you didn't show the station facilities at Hakata Station. It's a huge shopping mall before and after the gates including a Men's Hankyu store on top of the station.
Fun fact: Over the Shinkansen's 60-plus year history, carrying over 10 billion passengers, there have been no passenger fatalities due to train accidents (from Wikipedia).
the n700s is even better
Wish i had enough money to travel abroad Japan is near the top on my list
Can I use ticket on my phone to get through Shinkansen gates?
I must say that the N700 trains have a weird interior design.
It has a big nose
Thats on my train bucketlist😎
Was this trip in the last few days or literally a year ago?
Hey Simon👋.
I will appreciate if you could review the coming new Swedish SJ regional trains. Almost fully sure they’ll be in traffic somewhere in 2025.
Thank you for your amazing content. ❤
I see a video about the shinkansen, i subscribe. I'm a simple man.
I rode them a few times once as a tourist as a teen. It was my first HSR and even intercity train; everythings been downhill since then 😅
Sakura needs to run more often and be equipped with dedicated luggage racks (like their 16-car counterparts). Even though the JR pass increased in cost, I feel that most people taking Sakura are JR Pass holders.
All seats facing the direction of travel. All seats aligned with a window. This is how high speed trains should be, but something that European trains will never achieve. The only bad thing is how the Japan rail pass rocketed up in price recently, before then it was a real bargain for racing around Japan on trains like this.