I Rode the Craziest Trains in Japan

[@NotJustBikes]

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[@El-Burrito]

Wait where's the link to the Tom Scott video, I feel like I missed it

[@NotJustBikes]

@@El-Burrito there's a card that pops up on KZbin at that point in the video, but here's the link again: Tom Scott - I rode the world's fastest train. kzbin.info/www/bejne/aou7aodmoLyVars

[@matpk]

@@NotJustBikes amazing video much better than anything in Chi Na 🎉

[@steemlenn8797]

They don't have a bar on the SHinkansen because they have something better: *ekiben* A bento you buy at the train station ( *eki* ). If you didn't get one, you missed something. (They often use local specialities. For children (or us train geeks) there might be even one in a train shaped package.) Also: There are 3? sets of special Shinkansen - "Doctor Yellow". As the name says, they are a Pikachu color. Track inspection trains that run unannounced, why it is considered good luck to see one. They will stop running in the near future though because of better tech. So catch them while you still can ;)

[@steemlenn8797]

@@1121494 I know of 2 other foreigners that have made videos about and inside the Maglev - CathyCat (who is admittedly part of EN Japanese TV about trains in one of her jobs) and a German one: Mr. Nippon. So they have to consider which people they let ride on their test train? Who had thought that, considering there is just a 1000 times bigger demand than supply.

[@LARKXHIN]

"There's no first class on the Hello Kitty Shinkansen" Hello Kitty, the great class equalizer.

[@Hans-gb4mv]

There's no first class on any Shinkansen. There's standard class on all, there's Green class on most and then you have Gran class on some.

[@timothystamm3200]

​@Hans-gb4mv Green Class is effectively Japan's equivalent to what any other nation would call first class service. Hell, the private railroads usually just call it premium, don't they.

[@SvalbardSleeperDistrict]

@@Hans-gb4mv You really had to be that person to ruin a joke through semantic pedantics, didn't you?

[@timothystamm3200]

@@rasurin Dude, I know that I was using that for shorthand of the railroads that either have never been or have totally been separated from the railroads that were created out of JNR. Because all of the JR group used to be nationalized, and some of them are still heavily owned by the government, like JR Shukoku, JR Hokkaido, and JR Freight. Even JR Kyushu, and all of the West, Central, and East JR group companies, have significant percentages of shares owned by the Japanese Government.

[@andrefricke9998]

Comrade Kitty ✊️

[@alasdaresineaeris2772]

NJB just casually went through like 5 videos worth of content for the average travel vlogger, what a chad move

[@oichilli7309]

One vidoe per train

[@LouisChang-le7xo]

he IS the chad

[@ChannelHypermach]

tbf he just skipped the boarding, the scenery timelapses and did not include pricing for some trains, but yes still chad move.

[@MrNicePotato]

@@ChannelHypermach That's the thing. He could have milked every train as a separate video saying repetitive stuff and lazy editing. But he didn't do any of that to make it go straight to the point.

[@mackaythomson1083]

hearing about shinkansen travelling faster than planes at 6 minute intervals is absolutely bonkers as somebody who has to wait 30 minutes for a train going 50km/h to get to work

[@jdmspotter]

and at peak times, even the shinkansen is packed (standing room only).

[@illiiilli24601]

Shinkansen is faster door to door for many trips, but its top speed (or average speed between station to station /airport to airport) is no where near crusing speed for any modern airliner. (285 on the tokaido, 300 Sanyo etc, 320 (360 in testing) on the Tohoku etc). The Chuo one, still in testing, (505 kph design speed) is comparable, but yeah.

[@debadityasaha1684]

@illiiilli24601 but high-speed train will always be superior to planes under 700KM as if you count the time between point A to point B

[@pavelandreev4727]

My country is barely 500 km long, last week they announced the arrival of new trains that will go from the capital to the seaside (Sofia to Burgas), about 350km in ONLY 6 hours...

[@Moonstone-Redux]

@@jdmspotter I thought Shinkansen is seating only?

[@BogFiets]

Really need some miffy trains here in the Netherlands

[@amcaesar]

I’m sold!

[@zeppie_]

I'll be honest I've seen more Miffy merchandise in Tokyo than I ever have in the Netherlands. We need to step our game up!

[@Paul_C]

No, we don't. I rather hope they finally extend the network beyond the green core. Or we call 'the Randstad'.

[@marcogeurts9881]

​@@zeppie_yes a Miffy or Nijntje train would be amazing

[@hamtier]

@@Paul_C you'll have to be more specific. imo the network is fine going from east netherlands to west netherlands. but i rarely travel south or north so i have no idea how that line is nowadays

[@hwkeyser]

My wife has never clicked on one of your videos for me, but you showed her Pikachu train and now we're discussing a Japan vacation.

[@tqks]

GO GO GO!!! theres no better time to go now that the japanese yen is weak at the moment!! i went last summer and it was the happiest month ive ever had.

[@gabemik]

Once she finds out about the Pokemon themed manhole covers all over the country, you're going to need the full 90 day tourist visa limit!

[@serafinacosta7118]

Women have an odd sense of priorities. The one who shall be obeyed.

[@AltairStarlight]

I just went to Japan with my husband and we had an amazing time. Everything was much more affordable than where we live. I highly recommend staying at an onsen hotel with private rooms. If you don't go in the summer.

[@MarloSoBalJr]

I'm pretty sure that was Pichu, but who cares?

[@undercoverduck]

"Getting off on the wrong station that also happens to be underserviced" is genuinely a recurring (benign) nightmare for me. Now I can have that nightmare with the added terror of not knowing the native language ❤

[@HoshikawaHikari]

Last time that happened by sister brought my family to ride horses

[@lainiwakura1776]

Japan is very English friendly now, they have train announcements in both Japanese and English and electronic signs will switch between the two languages, regular signs will have it in both languages, but this is also more likely for cities and tourist areas that foreigners flock to. If you go to the country side and rural areas, it will be all Japanese, but the locals are friendly and a translation app will always be your friend.

[@Hans-gb4mv]

@@lainiwakura1776 Japanese trains and stations have had announcements in English since the early 50's. The bigger problem is that in smaller cities and towns, you are less likely to run into people that actually know English. Getting that taxi might have required the usage of a translator app on a phone just to get the message across.

[@fruity4820]

I avoid this by working one station away from where I am living. I only have the nightmares of getting on the wrong train and missing my station. Both of which pale in comparison to the nightmares I get from driving, which are getting killed in a car accident, killing someone in a car accident, costing my parents a fortune because I got the car destroyed in a car accident...

[@N0Xa880iUL]

​@@fruity4820Totally

[@MHX11]

10:40 fun fact: all hiking trails in Switzerland are planned to have all trail heads located at bus and train stations :)

[@tristanridley1601]

*Sigh* That's what civilization looks like, eh?

[@MHX11]

​@@tristanridley1601it's so amazing, the whole country is like this

[@funtonite]

There are a lot of trails here in Japan that start from bus stops and train stations. The Seibu Chichibu Line and the JR Ome Line are a couple examples of lines that run in some narrow valleys between mountains. A lot (maybe most, can't say exactly how many) of the stations have big maps detailing the hiking routes accessible from the station and there's signage directing you through the streets in the town to get to the trailhead, depending on how wide the valley is at that point.

[@LeafHuntress]

@@MHX11 Cannot claim the whole country is like this, but in the Netherlands we do have NS-wandelingen, iow Dutch Railways hikes, so people can & do take the train to get to a trail.

[@tristanridley1601]

I feel like in Japan they mostly made hiking trails to the train station, and in Switzerland it's mostly the other way around. Tell me if I'm wrong. I'd be glad for either. Lol

[@lemontreemedia2252]

I went to Japan but I was very little and my mom told me that I used to always say 電車 instead of train until I turned 5. I had a train obsession as a toddler.

[@azminek7154]

Who didn't? Though for me it was driven by motion sickness. I had motion sickness on everything that didn't run on rails. So trains and trams were the coolest things I could imagine to travel with.

[@cipher01]

I was literally the same with motion sickness as a kid.

[@viniciusdesouzamaia]

I still have it now and I'm 35

[@BotchFrivarg]

@10:40 "because fundamentally trains should be available for all kinds of trips, not just commuting" sums up in a way the main gripe I've had about the Dutch rail network, almost all passengers trains are focuses on commuters not on any other reasons you might want to take a train (this is especially noticeable on any train going to Schiphol, not enough storage for all the massive luggage people try to bring)

[@Volkbrecht]

That's the main gripe for me in Germany, too. People will not stop driving when they know they can't get back home after a night out or are trapped in their suburbs on the weekend, even if they can commute to work alright. This also completely ignores people who don't have regular 8 to 5 jobs, and there are quite a lot of those. The people in politics just don't understand that you have to create the offer first, then the demand can follow. Very few people will sell their car to see how fucked they will be without it, and as long as they still have it, they will often prefer it as the more comfortable option even when it is not strictly necessary to get about.

[@literallyjustgrass]

All the concerts i've had to leave early and all the times i've had to say no to drinks afterwards at said concerts just because "my last train leaves at 22:30" 😭

[@Volkbrecht]

@@literallyjustgrass Don't forget the nights where you spent hours in the cold because the first train would only start around 5... or 6 at the weekends ;)

[@lainiwakura1776]

@@Volkbrecht Cars are good for somethings, trains for others (like if you go to Costco, it's much better to have a car in that instance instead of figuring out how you're going get all those bulk items home on a train).

[@lainiwakura1776]

@@literallyjustgrass Even Japan has last trains, people staying out all night at the club have to wait until 4 or 5 am for the first trains to start running, since they tend to stop in the 11pm hour closer to midnight.

[@seafog]

I clicked so fast as a Tokyo resident who is always jealous of bicycle lanes in the Netherlands you feature on your videos. I've not heard of most of the trains mentioned here, and now I have a better appreciation for them. Pokémon trains sound perfectly normal in Japan but I really enjoyed seeing it from your pov and finding how ridiculous it actually is. This video also made me realise that being able to travel by train to so many parts of the country is quite impressive too, esp for how prone Japan is to natural disasters and the whole country is mostly covered in mountains. In Europe, a lot of the mountainous or slightly less populated areas are only covered by coaches/buses probably because building roads are easier than building railway tracks. I remembered about the train that was supposed to pass through the mountainous part of Spain (Cantabria) but the project got delayed because they dug the tunnel too narrow so the trains didn't fit 😂

[@Zenas521]

The Spaniards forgot the saying: "Measure twice, cut once".

[@lainiwakura1776]

A Pikachu train is not ridiculous, it kawaii af! I love how the different prefectures have Pokemon specific manhole covers too! I wanna see this for myself someday.

[@alantremonti1381]

Awww, this is cute.

[@deadby15]

I wish we could bring bikes on more trains in Japan. Currently, you need a foldable bike or a special carry bag.

[@makotohanazawa6560]

​@@deadby15i wish japan had better bike infra😢 doesnt seem like its ever gonna happen

[@yoiko3378]

I am really happy that you mentioned about the earthquake and tsunami in Kesennuma happened in 2011. As a local, i wish more ppl come to Tohoku area and feel our energy and see how hard we rebuilt our hometown. Pokémon has been contributing, encouraging people and economy here.Thank you for visiting Kesennuma.

[@samuelconnolly347]

I'm so glad Japan exists. Absolutely agree with your assessment that trains shouldn't just be utilitarian. Of course, ruthless efficiency is great when it's all about commuting, but travelling should also be about the journey. Trains that prioritise comfort or have some other reason to exist (e.g. getting your photo taken with Hello Kitty) are great too. Absolutely love the bike train. This is a real challenge in so many places - being forced to drive if you want to get out into the countryside. It results in the beautiful countryside people come to see being covered in car parks... As you've pointed out multiple times on this channel, trains are by far and away the most efficient way of moving lots of people around. The Shinkansen is a really good-looking train as well. Like, that's the sleek look of the futuristic sci fi (even though it's old at this point!).

[@Mr.Goldbar]

Japan is the best example of a country that embraces cars yet doesn't require you to own one. The public transport there is world class, yet it has the best car culture in the world (look up Albo and Dustin Williams for content relating to the JDM car scene). Tokyo has insane multi level highways within the city (like the Wangan loop) but at that doesn't stop it from having great public transport. And there are these tiny efficient Kei cars that are so small and they're not sold in other countries, they also used to give you tax benefits if you own one

[@AE86FTS]

Kei cars are proof that Japan did car regulations better than North America, as they are small, efficient vehicles that meet the spirit of the standards rather than giant SUVs which exist to avoid regulation. My only criticism is that Japan is one of the countries that taxes by engine displacement, which is misguided as you can have a bigger engine while still producing less emissions and having better mpg

[@Mr.Goldbar]

@@rasurin well... That's the price of having low polulated areas. Want public transport? Move to a big city, I've learned it the hard way as a young adult in a relatively posh suburb

[@Mr.Goldbar]

@@rasurin with that said I definitely agree on the speed limits, I'd go further and say all of them are arbitrary with no single exception

[@meneldal]

@@rasurin The speed limits are mostly a joke, drivers usually don't follow them, even highway buses that you'd think would be more regulated. Unless you're the only car around, everyone will do 100-120 on the highway, almost never 80.

[@runswithraptors]

Because it's culturally homogeneous. In the USA at least public transit is for poor people who are oftentimes not the same ethnicity of those in power 🤷

[@Alephcat]

I'm amazed you managed to resist calling it the Pika Choo Choo

[@sylvainmichaud2262]

If only our countries would love their train as much as Japan. People stuck in traffic, including kids, don't know what they're missing.

[@garfieldandfriends1]

22:28 Surprise Pikachu train mentioned 😂

[@andrefricke9998]

I've been to Japan a couple of times and always loved riding trains there! One time, I took an Anpanman (a very popular character in Japan) themed train by chance from Okayama to Marugame and it was packed with happy kids and their parents or grandparents 😁

[@capybara-c4g]

In Australia, all these trains would've been vandalised and torn apart by bogans and the worst part is they'd be cheered on by the general public because "ah mate they're just being a bit of a larrikin, no need to get upset". Shitty treatment of public transport is basically a part of Aussie culture and I hate it.

[@UDIBro]

Untrue you live in a shitty place or have met shitty people

[@DeepDeepSpace]

Looks like Australians and Americans have a lot in common.

[@sirensynapse5603]

@@DeepDeepSpace Germans too. Graffiti morons deface everything in sight. I say take a hand, taliban style. :)

[@8bithavok]

@@DeepDeepSpace it's really just a white people thing. we have no respect for anything or each other. this is why we can't have nice things.

[@techcafe0]

@@DeepDeepSpace Canadians too, sadly. we are a hopelessly addicted car culture, and i hate it.

[@shefetz]

dude, your videos bring me to tears every time. wtf.

[@Zinervawyrm]

Other countries: Have statues of historical and sometimes questionable figures. Japan: Behold! The statue of the goodest boi, Hachiko! And over here, the Pirate King! Also, we have a Pikachu-chu!

[@beefueater4586]

Also Japan: Wanna see an irl giant robot?

[@illuminoeye_gaming]

also japan: has a shrine commemorating WW2 war criminals yeah, i dont want to dampen the mood but Japan isn't perfect either. for every luffy there's a gorosei

[@Zinervawyrm]

@@illuminoeye_gaming Yeah, but unless you visit Disney World, you aren't exactly going to find fun statues of Mickey Mouse in the middle of Central Avenue..

[@illuminoeye_gaming]

@@Zinervawyrm fair enough, at least japan does both and not just one

[@Alina_Schmidt]

⁠This video by cecilily gives the context to make that make perfect sence: kzbin.info/www/bejne/e5O8iIR_mqaId80feature=shared

[@CaitofFate]

8:40 that is pretty convincing, was glad to hear your re-enaction of your reaction lol

[@robertnobles8189]

10:48 missed the opportunity to drop “Not just bikes” casually into the script.😅

[@57thorns]

I just love the fact that Shinkansen never really got a name, the project designation kind of just stuck.

[@arkynkueh]

Actually each line has its own name, eg Tokyo to Osaka is the Tokaido Shinkansen.

[@weirdtemple1217]

I think Japan's infrastructure is the best in the world imo. They have so many trains that will literally take you almost everywhere in the country. Also considering that Japan makes a lot of cars, Toyota being the most sold worldwide, especially in the US/Canada that are car centric.

[@GarfieldRex]

I'm truly envious of these trains 😭😭 we don't even have a single line here in Colombia. After visiting Italy and being on the high speed trains, normal teains and metro lines, I have not stopped thinking about trains.

[@jannecapelle_art]

oh god. is there some way i can beam this video directly into the heads of the german DB execs...??? its kind of crazy how our national stereotype is still often "punctuality" 😭😭 at this point, we're happy if the train isnt straight up not coming at all...

[@Sacto1654]

The problem with Deutsche Bahn's high-speed trains is that they have to get and off dedicated high-speed lines, not run on exclusively dedicated high speed lines like the Shinkansen. That tends to cause a lot of delays. But somehow, the French SNCF avoided the problem keeping the running on conventional tracks before getting on the high-speed line as little as possible.

[@zeugundso]

well, look at how much the german goverment traditionally spent on rail infrastructure... for the last decades it was only around 55€ per capita per year, and only in the last couple of years it more than doubled to around 120€. Still a far cry from the 450€ Switzerland spends per capita but at least its no longer astmathic

[@anirudh_s17]

that was my first thought lol

[@SomePotato]

Don't blame DB, blame the government. DB is 100% state-owned and funding has been abysmal ever since this faux-privatization started in the 90s..

[@Alina_Schmidt]

@@zeugundso ​​⁠ Yes, but I‘d say germany has to go above the 450€ of switzerland for quite a while. Just to make up for the damage from underinvesting for years. Accumulative damage. The amount of money the deutsche Bahn asked for wasn‘t even thaaat much, but was still cut.

[@apacheglider]

no more "hello kitty train smoking room" ? XD I laughed so hard

[@riku3716]

"They are designed ss self contained pods." Adam something: PODS!!?

[@beskamir5977]

Give it a few more years and tech bros will stumble their way upon the brilliant idea of putting pods in a train. It'll really be quite profound. lmao.

[@pavelandreev4727]

You're a lucky man, thank you for bringing us along on your trips! All those beautiful trains, especially the bike and stars ones, made me wanna cry!

[@VexSG]

20:50 i think this really sums up my point perfectly on the argument for better public transport and active travel. Better bus, tram, metro, train and cycling/walking infrastructure doesn't force you out of your car, but it gives you the option to go by whichever way suits your needs. If anything, it gives you more freedom than only having to go by car if you want to go to the local supermarket or into your city.

[@dopaminecloud]

It also literally takes more cars off the roads so your traffic clears up if more people are using public transit. If you love driving that much, it's STILL better for you.

[@kumatoni5245]

The most fun I had on a train Japan was the Shizutetsu Beer Train. For a flat fee, you'd get a ticket to and from the destination, and it would include table service all-you-can-drink local beer, with a view of Mt Fuji.

[@CrocTV42]

Crazy train mentioned

[@nfboogaard]

I rode a japanese train where the passengers reverse all the seat's backs because the train reversed direction 😊

[@Halfpipesaur]

Do passengers have to manually reverse the seats? In the trains I rode on the seats would automatically turn 180 degrees, once the train reached the terminal.

[@nfboogaard]

@@Halfpipesaur manually 😊

[@Moonstone-Redux]

@@Halfpipesaur Depends on the train. The Odakyu Romancecar VSE 50000 that goes between Hakone-yumoto and Shinjuku uses automatically turning seats (I have a video on my channel) though I remembered that the Tobu SPACIA (not to be confused with the newer SPACIA X) that goes between Tobu Asakusa and Tobu Nikko or Kinugawa-onsen has manual seats that can be spun around by the passenger so that passengers can face one another.

[@gayahithwen]

The state of US railways are incredibly frustrating. Like, in the 19th century, they could see it was the way of the future, they spent the 1860s building the Transcontinental Railway... and then, in the 20th century, they just abandoned it all and started investing in car infrastructure instead. And then they started actively decommissioning railroads, so places aren't even connected by rail any more. A while back, I tried to look up how long it would take to travel from the PNW to Texas by train (specifically, Seattle-Dallas), and the answer was something like "five days, fourteen train changes". Meanwhile, just googling a similar distance in Europe (I picked Barcelona-Berlin) can be done in less than 20 hours with two train changes, and that's crossing multiple international boarders. Looking at the highspeed network in China, I picked Huaihua-Beijing for a similar distance, and it's

[@alastairhewitt380]

I love how when you were playing pokemon as a kid it felt like you were transported to some faraway fairytale and when you grow up you realise that is literally just how japan is haha

[@Schnorchmorch]

I'm very sad we don't have capybaras swimming with lemons in Europe.

[@lonecycle4849]

Recently took the trains from Fuji to Narita and it is just wild. The Shinkansen was incredible and the fact that we have nothing like this in the States connecting at least the major cities is damn near criminal.

[@DownieLive]

Ahhhh you beat me to it! I’m jealous! 👏🏼 Maybe we should ride a train TOGETHER sometime??

[@NotJustBikes]

lol! That would be a good time for sure. We need a Nebula train car.

[@Marconius6]

The Shinkansen runs so frequently you can actually just wait for the next one if you missed one or it's too crowded or something. If you don't reserve a seat (which you usually don't have to for some cars) you can pretty much just board any train during the day.

[@Turnil321]

There is a Dutch theme park in Japan called Huis ten Bos. Have you been there?

[@jdmspotter]

He lives in the real Huis Ten Bosch, why go to the imitation on the other side of the world? 😅

[@ianhomerpura8937]

This is in Nagasaki iirc. Of course they'll go with the Dutch.

[@nathanielbyrne1132]

I love how much dedication has gone into designing the interior of these trains. Japan is on another level, also... you know what we need... Capyabaras swimming in lemons!

[@jonoghue]

Can't believe you didn't ride the Shonan Monorail. The train hangs UNDER the rail.

[@szymex22]

Similar thing in Germany I would recommend Wuppertal schwebebahn

[@0LoneTech]

No DMV either.

[@TheDreamRiver]

I always check to see if I can catch a special/themed/decorated train whenever I travel to Japan. I haven’t done a trip that focus on special/themed/decorated trains though. Your video got me excited. What an adventure. Wow.

[@fur_avery]

I've never seen someone so excited to see a closed hello kitty smoking room but at the same time I've never seen a hello kitty smoking room before

[@trainzguy2472]

Aww, too bad you didn't ride the Romancecar! That train has a really unique seating arrangement where the engineer sits in a fighter pilot-style cockpit above the passenger compartment, giving the first few rows of seats a panoramic view of the tracks ahead. It's an express train, too, so it's quite a thrilling ride!

[@jdmspotter]

welcome to japan. Hello Kitty Haruka from Osaka airport to Kyoto is my fav.

[@rachellerachelle2931]

Living in Kyoto I take that train a lot (makes it worth the long trip to KIX).

[@jdmspotter]

@@rachellerachelle2931 I have grown to hate kix. 😅 train or not.

[@jyeo5556]

Thank you for showing us the luxury compartments and premium diamond green cars!

[@jonathanwine4235]

19:30 aren’t you usually the goofy guy with a tripod filming trains? 😂

[@mogeleo]

Japan does have something similar to the Norwegian ski train that you mentioned in the video. During the winter, JR East operates a Shinkansen that goes directly from Tokyo to the ski resort in Yuzawa: the entrance to the ski range is literally right outside the turnstiles.

[@zenddoor]

"Regarding the end of payphone service: payphone service has ended." Thanks for clearing that up, I guess.

[@Yoshi92]

Excellent video. Hope you gonna do more Japan videos. Gonna watch em all! 💯

[@luenriqu]

This video is one of the bests in its kind... huge congrats!!

[@RainbowGin]

This was an awesome video. I like to say Im a big fan of trains but I had no idea that these fun trains where a thing! Thank you so much!

[@azbgames6827]

Man I wish we had these trains in New Zealand.

[@steemlenn8797]

trains + crazy + NJB Instand classic before I even watched!

[@Aoife_MDC]

I love the themed trains/stations in Japan. Last year, I made a whole trip out of visiting a train station in rural Wakayama, Japan whose station master is a cat. The train line had various themed trains, like cat-themed (of course), strawberry-themed, and umeboshi-themed..

[@nagasako7]

JR Central Maglev 300mph line is actually making more progress than US HSR single lane 150mph rail

[@davidty2006]

isn't cali HSR meant to be 320km/h track?

[@elemental-server]

@@davidty2006 I think he was talking about Brightline and not chsr

[@firstsoldier4257]

@@elemental-server i wanna try bright line in miami ....

[@Zalis116]

@@firstsoldier4257 Enjoy going 120 km/h pulled by diesel engines with level crossings. Pretty much everything in Florida is a scam.

[@-Bloomia-]

On the Joyful Trains point, it can be categorised into 2 sections, with one being group trains that can be booked together, while the other being focused on tourist services. Some JR agencies may call it something else, like JR Kyushu calling them "Design & Story" trains. The group book trains have gradually fallen out of fashion since the end of the Japanese bubble economy, so now most Joyful Trains you'd see are tourist trains. There's also SL trains, which are steam locomotive led trains. There's the SL Gunma and the SL Banetsu Monogatari in JR East, and the SL Yamaguchi in JR West. JR Kyushu retired their last SL train, the Hitoyoshi, earlier this year.

[@chrisseas6725]

Great video! Can't wait for my trip to Japan! Any plans for a trip to Ireland soon? Would love you to experience the majesty of Irish PT

[@hoppareiter]

There was some poetry in this The farther you get from the shop in car one The less Hello Kitty they become By the time you're at the end it's like you're not even on a Hello Kitty train - this is no fun!

[@muaddib7705]

Love being this early to an NJB video. Great video! As always!

[@analoguegeek]

As someone who lives here and takes many of these on the daily - I can honestly say its so so so good here...

[@ColinBrislawn]

4:31 😳 "What if we kissed inside the Hello Kitty themed smoking room prior to March 2024??" 👉👈

[@Leon-vp3vb]

Bike on train is pretty good idea. You can commute 30-50km on train, and after reaching destination, carry-on on your ebike to your final destination, 4-5kms.

[@breanna_bee]

Since you covered some more fun/touristy trains in this video, I wonder how you feel about historic steam trains. I have a line near me that goes back and forth through the countryside once or twice a day during the spring and summer months, on an old (mostly) single track line that's not part of the regular NS network. Not really functional as public transport, but many of the trains in the video it's nice for a leisurely day out.

[@0lei3]

suprise pikachu train got me ngl

[@ccpljager424]

In Melbourne they have days where the old Trains are on the tracks lots of steam trains and early electric ones too

[@jdmspotter]

Japan has that too. “SL” specialty steam locomotives.

[@emilyhockers1086]

the shinkansen runs more frequently than the bus i have to take

[@odorikakeru]

3:30 There used to be a bar service on some of the older Shinkansen trains, but they were closed long ago, and the last train that had them equipped was retired a couple of years ago. So even the evidence that they used to be there is now mostly gone.

[@trbjrnjnssn]

Loved it!

[@bagoston325]

10:50 I recently saw that here in Hungary, the local rail operator MÁV is converting some new EMU trains to have more space for bikes in the summer season, by removing some seats and replacing them with bike racks. Until now, you just had to hope that either you get a non-EMU train that has a bike transport car, or that the one bike compartment in the EMU doesn't get filled with bikes.

[@lkbergen]

Hey Jason, can you remember what route you were on when you shot the footage at 16:28? This looks almost identical to the footage used in the music video by "Porter Robinson - Flicker". I'd love to go on that journey!

[@TeamWolfmountain]

19:03 this train is unique and although being commercial it is still amazing

[@itsthatsebguy93]

You just can't have nice things like this in the UK.

[@firstsoldier4257]

fun fact --britisch bring the railways to japan and they bring the too ....wrong side driving .....

[@challacustica9049]

The bike train sounds like a dream come true. I love getting out of the city, and riding out of it is the least enjoyable but usually quite time consuming part of the ride.

[@D6isD6]

"Japan really can be the most backwards futuristic country sometimes." The way I've always heard it is they've been living in the year 2000 since 1980. Holds up pretty well.

[@rowandoggo]

Here on Long Island, the L.I.R.R. trains have 2 features: Bathrooms & seats. They will not be cleaned now or ever

[@johnc_]

Other trains I like I went on * Strawberry train running near Tokyo, the outside is strawberries, it has strawberries fabric seats and even the hand holds are strawberry shape * Snow monkey train * Okinawa Pokemon monorail

[@AliGroves450]

8:55: In the UK we have something similar operated by ScotRail. Class 153 DMU's were half converted to bike storage for journeys in the Highlands.

[@ChadScott-m4w]

Living in Hirakata (roughly halfway between Osaka and Kyoto) for a while, I definitely appreciate the different train routes that exist; while sure the Shinkansen is a thing, it's not always available at every station, and being able to just choose to spend the extra time and take either the Limited Express or normal service options is always nice - and with the fares being cheap, it's truly up to what's convenient for me. Do I want to get back home after my business in the city? Grab a limited express, book a specific seat in the green car and relax. Do I just want to go somewhere and chill? Regular service trains are often far less booked and still get where they're going pretty fast.

[@ianhomerpura8937]

Someone had definitely been watching episodes of NHK World's Japan Railway Journal. Hell yeah! Also, great thing that Kesennuma isn't just known nowadays merely as one of the cities destroyed in the 2011 tsunami.

[@dapengu777]

Great Video love it!

[@DrStonePHD]

I rode the High Rail in January and it wasn't cloudy when we went. We walked up the hill from the station a bit and then the guide went and shut off all the lights. It sounds like they didn't do it because it was cloud which is unfortunate.

[@acnva]

And so many Americans continue to believe that they live in the 'greatest country in the world'.

[@daiviet]

In regards to not having Bar Cars on the Shinkansen, in my own experience of travelling on it I noticed quiet a few locals who would pull out their own alcohol purchased elsewhere and enjoy it on the train ride. Being able to purchase your own beverage of choice seems like a great way to attract more customers to your train

[@koharumi1]

Thanks for this. Will see if I could ride some while in Japan rn.

[@juliegolick]

In Vancouver, you can take public transit directly to the skill hills. When I visited earlier this year, I saw plenty of people with their skis and snowboards on the skytrain.

[@kaihatkeinenaccount]

"Trains that make people happy." That is very good phrasing.

[@incalescent9378]

Fair is fair, I got on one of the sparkling new ICE neos, and it nicely did 270 on part of the track (but because it's still Germany it also did all of the other speeds and still got delayed by an hour), and while it isn't designed for fun directly, they clearly thought about many different functions.

[@olasola1013]

The main reason Shinkansen trains are completely segregated from conventional rail is that the track gauge is different. Almost all conventional trains in Japan operate on 1067mm gauge track, which is also why no conventional Japanese train exceeds 160 km/h.

[@magnusaugust8489]

Thank you Ola Sola - very cool!

[@olasola1013]

@@magnusaugust8489 Thanj you magnusaugustv ery cool

[@ZeBoy85]

Hey mate I once criticised you because you said that you wouldn’t leave Europe to make videos so I think this recent string of Montreal and now Japan videos are a great choice to actually do that and I’m completely in support, I genuinely think to reinforce your message that leaving Europe to other places around the world is an absolute must to exemplify that it’s not just Europe that does these things and Japan is a great place to exemplify ‘not just bikes’ with arguably the greatest public transport systems in the world. I hope you have a really good time in Japan and enjoy yourself. I really like how you exemplified that public transport doesn’t need to be completely utilitarian and that trains that are given character can break up the monotony of everyday commuting and I wish we did a bit more of this in Melbourne other than just painting up a tram every now and then which is also very cool. So really good job on the videos I hope with the power of your channel (regular non climate-activist dude discovers the alternative and gets angry and gets lots of views) I hope it opens a lot more eyes to the potential and possibilities of mass transit.

[@lifebloodcore2106]

I remember being 12 or 13 reading The Hunger Games series which featured high speed trains and thinking “Wow, super fast trains? So futuristic! I hope those will be made in real life someday!” Little did middle school me know that trains that fast already did exist, just not in my home country 😆

[@ashchbkv6965]

even the exteriors of their trains are super clean, like they're shiny, not even a trace of marking from air friction

[@ruben4447]

There are many factors on choosing what makes a perfectly designed city but you can mainly divide it in two main factors. One is attractivenes and two is transportation. Cities like Paris and Amsterdam have both these factors and can be considered some of the best designed cities.(The only problem they have is either related to crime or lack of housing). There are also cities like Tokyo or Shanghai which have just boring modernist architecture and lack detailed traditional buildings. But the thing that makes them such great cities is the amazing Transportation infrastructure which balances the city out and makes it quite attractive to tourists. But then there are cities like Dubai or any major city in America which neither have attractive architecture neither have good transportation. (Dubai is only so popular because of the tallest building and because of all the unique structures found nowhere else because otherwise its just massive landmarks connected by huge highways). In an ideal future world we need to design cities in such a way where buildings get at least a little bit of character like in European towns and we need to add as many transportation options as possible like Japan does.

[@Sacto1654]

Paris had to build out its Paris Metro, RER regional rail and tram networks because they were dealing of a serious traffic overcrowding problem that was already existing before World War II! Just getting the cars off the streets not only relieved the overcrowding problem, but definitely improved air quality. And the construction is still ongoing, with the Grand Paris Express circular line that will open (hopefullY) by 2029.

[@ruben4447]

@@Sacto1654 Yeah i just realized that Paris probably wasnt the best example but maybe it will become in the future.

[@Bionickpunk]

Japan took all of it's aesthetic perk and bumped up the public transportation perk. Which is kinda sad because Constructivism was a beautiful modernist style in favor of ugly mishapened buildings.

[@Zalis116]

@@Bionickpunk It doesn't help that a lot of Japan's traditional buildings got bombed into oblivion during WW2 -- outside of Kyoto, which was specifically and deliberately spared.

[@Bionickpunk]

@@Zalis116 Not really an excuse when you have countries like Poland that rebuilt entire cities after WW2.

[@contrapasta2454]

I rode that Elegant Saloon series from Osaka to Kyoto during a weak typhoon. It was in a strange time where somehow businesses had closed but trains were still operating, so we had the thing to ourselves. Absolutely surreal how luxurious it was, being from America.

[@AndyH2k4]

Was just in Japan a month ago - now I regret not using the Hello Kitty Shinkansen 😁 Next time!

[@Synest2]

19:30 in Japan, Densha Otaku (Literally Train Otaku) are pretty common, so on "rare" rides like these, it's not awfully hard to see a bunch of people taking pictures and filming like that

[@travcollier]

The train to near the observatory is cool, but a lot of missed opportunities. Making the station area a dark-sky park would be awesome.

[@PrueferAuge]

japans fasted train is called hayabusa? the same name like what used to be the fastest street motorcycle, by suzuki? do they just name anything thats the fastest "hayabusa"? xd

[@ysakoko]

Hayabusa is the Japanese word for peregrine falcon. Makes perfect sense to name fast things for it

[@vaska00762]

Most of the Shinkansen service names and line names are actually taken from old conventional line services. For example, the Hayabusa was a conventional rail sleeper train which did run from Tokyo to Aomori, but when it was discontinued, they just passed on the name the Shinkansen service doing the same overall route. The Tokaido Shinkansen and Tokaido Mainline are different lines, the Tohoku Shinkansen and Tohoku Mainline are different lines, and the Chuo Shinkansen (the maglev one) is entirely different to the Chuo Mainline.

[@Zalis116]

All based on the root word of 早い / hayai = fast, early.