Riding Japan's Most Luxurious Bullet Train (to visit snow monkeys)

Welcome to the fastest and most luxurious Bullet train in all of Japan. Complete with these crazy seats and unlimited food and drink. Please be chocolate. Oh, it's food. Today we'll be riding on Bullet trains for seven hours as we travel from Hokodate south to Tokyo and then west to Nagano. Throughout the journey, we will be trying all three classes of service the Bullet trains have to offer. So I ordered a coffee because I can. But our longest journey will be spent in grand class, which is the most luxurious seat that you can book on.

A bullet TR are only 18 seats in this entire car.

I'm not sure if we're more excited about the journey or the destination. Hold the train.

Hurry, hurry.

Because this train is taking us to stay in our first traditional Japanese hotel.

Holy cow. Nate's walking. And to see the famous snow monkeys of Japan. So stick around for an epic train journey that ends with super cute monkeys.

Good morning from the snowiest city in the world. We are about to travel from here all the way to Tokyo in grand class. But our journey on our very first Bullet train actually started a couple days ago in Hode. That train actually took us underneath the ocean to get here. So before we show you the fanciest seat that you can ride in on a bullet train, let us show you the cheapest, which honestly is still really comfortable. So this is what economy class looks like on a Bullet train. So if you're using one of the rail passes to travel around Pan and you reserve a seat, this is most likely what you're going to be sitting in. There are three seats on one side, two seats on the other. And my first impression of the seat is that it sits very straight up. But the good news is they do recline quite a bit actually. And there is a ton of leg room.

This is so crazy. I somehow have full LTE in a tunnel underneath the ocean. Even if you don't have a phone plan, there is free wi fi on the train. So between that train ride that you just saw and now, we spent the day exploring Omori. And if you're traveling through this area of Japan, I highly recommend a stop. If nothing else, just to visit the fish market and eat fresh sashimi.

This is the most fun thing we've ever done.

And to go to the top of Mount Hikota, this is probably the most extreme weather I've ever experienced. And now it is finally time to board the train in grand class.

There's our train.

There's only one grand class car on the entire train, and it's in the very front still going green car. That's what we're riding next.

Grand class. That's us.

Hi.

Look at the back of it.

Hello.

That's the chain connector. He didn't wave back.

No way. The door is bronze.

Wow. Beautiful. Oh.

Oh. Don't set up.

Wow. Even the baggage storage looks fancy.

Well, that is a straight wall, and it looks warped because we're going so fast.

Our trade engine is so cute. She just gave us goodie bags that have branded water wet. What? Chocolate. She also just came around and took our drink order. Green tea and sake. We've literally been moving for 32nd and all of this has already happened.

I just realized that there are no seatbelts on this train. There can't be any other mode of transportation in the world that goes over 300 km an hour with no seat belt. That feels wrong.

To put grand class into perspective, There are only 18 seats in this entire car. The train that we took a couple days ago had almost 100. So the configuration is a 12 instead of a 2 3. It honestly looks like a futuristic spaceship, like the lighting in here and the shade shape of the windows.

So let me give you a quick tour around our seats. It's pretty much like an airplane seat, except for you're in your own little pod, so when you lean your chair back, you're not actually getting in your neighbor's space. This button sounds like it's doing something.

Oh, it's extending my. Extending my foot rail. You have really long legs, which I don't, unfortunately. We have tray tables, of course. Expands.

We have created a luxurious premium space for those with discerning taste who seek true value and want the utmost comfort and freedom. Looks like it's a set menu with two different options. We can get the Western option or the Japanese option. We both got Japanese.

I don't think I said that right. Oh, my gosh. I'm pretty sure the food and drinks are unlimited on this train, so we've started with a cup of hot green.

Tea.

And a bottle of sake. Japanese rice wine. I have no idea what's in this garon class box, but I'm going to open it and find out. Please be chocolate. Oh, it's food.

The picture on the menu looked a little bigger. I was expecting.

I'm not sure what this is.

I believe this is fish egg. Oh, I don't know that. This kind of looks like a vegetable.

Oh, that's lovely. This one's great. Sockeye salmon wrapped in kombu seaweed.

It's like sushi without the rice. This is just mashed sweet potato. It looks like a little Pokemon ball. Now. Go Pokeball.

Okay, so we had heard online that these trains were so smooth that you could balance a coin on its edge and it wouldn't fall over. I mean, we are, like, very much at an angle. There's no way that coin is gonna balance. Maybe if I put it in between the. Look at. I mean, it is pretty incredible that a train can travel at 200 miles an hour and be this smooth. Honestly, if we had bullet trains in the US I would choose this experience over flying every time.

Just when you thought you knew a guy.

Train travel gets rid of all the most annoying parts of flying. But usually trains are slow. Here we're traveling all the way to Tokyo in three and a half hours.

And we didn't have to get here two and a half hours early. We just walked right onto the plane.

I mean, okay, we're stopped.

We're not even moving, and he can't balance.

This is a myth.

In addition to just the hard product of this being extremely nice, the service is amazing. Our train attendant is basically like a flight attendant. We have a button that we can press whenever we want if we need anything. And every single time, she goes back to those.

Whether anyone's looking or not, it's the sweetest thing.

Whoa, baby. Unsurprisingly, it is extremely clean. Smells nice. One of the many, many reasons I'm in love with Japan is because all of their toilets have bidets. No way.

What if I don't want? There we go. Okay. Oh, and touchless flushing. There's somewhere to put your baby. We have some seat cleaner.

Oh, gosh.

Baby changing station. Does anybody see. Pretty nice here.

I'm late.

Assume this means the dryer isn't working.

For some reason. The boys bathroom has a window. That's so weird.

So fast.

So ordered a coffee because I can.

Oh, so happy it's real coffee. I was a little worried. I'm so spoiled.

It's really fun just getting a quick glimpse at all the little towns that are between the main tourist stops.

Please transfer at this station.

That was the fastest three and a half hours of my entire life. It cost an extra $258 to upgrade both of us to grand class. So if you just want to travel from point A to point B comfortably, it is totally unnecessary. But if you're on vacation and you want to turn your transportation into an experience, grand class is pretty fun. So this is the train that we just came in. On. And it just combined with this train. How crazy do these things look from the front?

Now we have to find our next train. Our ticket is completely Japanese, so we're completely guessing here. Pretty much the only information we're sure of is that we leave at 4:32. 2020's not even on this. Let's try it.

This is pretty confusing, but in our defense, this is one of the busiest train stations in the entire world. Sorry for interrupting the video, but I think you will agree that it is a worthwhile interruption. I just wanted to remind you that we are giving away a trip to Puerto Rico. So if you're like us and you're a little sick of winter at this point and you need a nice long vacation at the beach, this giveaway is for you. All you have to do to be entered for the giveaway is sign up for our travel newsletter, the Daily Drop. It's that simple. The winner is going to get five free nights at the Fairmont El San Juan, plus $2,000 to spend on food and drinks while you're there. And we're gonna throw in an extra 1500 dollars to cover your flights. There will be a link in the description below where you can sign up for our newsletter or you can scan the QR code here on the screen. Worst case scenario, if you don't win the giveaway, you're still signed up for our awesome travel newsletter that's going to help you become a better traveler and save a ton of money on your next trip. And I have a phone call, so back to the video. Okay, so we showed you the cheapest and most expensive ticket that you could buy on the bullet train. Now we're going to show you the middle ground. This is called green class, and I'm pretty sure that's our train.

Well, they don't serve any food or drinks in green class, so I'm going to take the coin that they can never balance it and get something out of the vending machine. Let's see. Hot Japanese green cheese.

Oh, wow. These look fancy. Oh, wait, that was our seat.

This is home sweet home.

Oh, wow, we're already looping. That was so fast. Man, Japan is always on time.

This might be the most beautiful train shot I've ever taken.

If we're sticking with the airplane theme for this. This is kind of like the business class of bullet trains. Honestly, it feels very similar to the economy class that we took. There's just a tad bit more space and it's a little bit more plush. I can straighten my Legs. I can lift my feet up. Nope, that's as high as they go. It's like a leg lifter. Just to keep the blood flowing. I can recline just a wee bit.

So basically, economy class is configured in a 3, 2. First class is in a 1, 2. And business class or green class, as in a 2, 2. And once again, to put in perspective just how much space we had in grand class, there are 64 seats on this car, and there were 18 on our last car. This train will take us an hour to Takasaki.

Oh, you can buy snacks. Do you want any snacks?

Is that ice cream?

Is this chocolate?

One chocolate, please. Oh, what are these sticky things? Oh, I think these are for kids. Little animals on it.

Just treat myself. Today.

We might be traveling with a little bit too much stuff. To be fair. This is our life in that bag.

Wow. It feels weird not having to have a big puffy jacket on and gloves and a hat.

There isn't snow frozen to the side of the train.

Okay, I will say grand class was an experience and potentially worth it. The in between, not so much. We paid an extra $80 for an hour in green class, as opposed to whatever they call economy class. We should really figure that out. And you just got a little more seat room. I mean, it was no different than just traveling the cheapest way. So I'd say either splurge and go for grand class or just ride in the cheap seats because they're great.

Okay, so up to this point, all the travel that we've done has been with this JR South Hikota rail pass. This pass, had we not have upgraded ourselves to grand class or green class, would have gotten us all the trains that we've ridden so far for free. One pass cost 27,000 yen, so both of ours together cost 54,000. And I did the math this morning, and I'm pretty sure we lost $15 by buying this pass. But with that said, it's allowed us to just like, get on and off trains as we've traveled around Japan without having to worry about buying tickets, going up to the machines, all the annoying things. So even though we lost $15 by buying this pass, I still think it was worth it. This specific pass, the last destination that you could ride to within the area was Takasaki. I'm pretty sure that train that we were just on was traveling to Nagano, but we had to get off and buy a completely separate pass because this no longer works and it expires today. So no more rail pass from here on Out.

Good job.

Did that make any sense? No.

Thanks for doing all the planning as usual. I just show up every day and I'm like, where are we going? Train is ours.

Nate is so good at planning our travels, but he cracks me up sometimes. This is what we've been going off of today.

When things get really complicated, sometimes it's just better to write it down on paper.

All right, we are back in economy. You already know our feelings about this. It's great. And. And we'll see you in a couple hours.

Okay. We've made it to wherever we are, and it's a little stressful because we have less than eight minutes to catch our next train, but we have to get another train ticket. And this train station is huge. But a very nice lady handed us a piece of paper that's in English, telling us where to go, so we're hurrying. Can you tell this is our first time traveling without the JR pass? It is not in as easy as it's been so fast. We have less than four minutes.

Thank you. I'm pretty sure he said hurry up.

Hold the train.

Hurry, hurry, hurry.

Don't leave. Don't leave.

Oh, my gosh.

Literally just made it.

Eight seconds to spare.

What a journey today has been. And now we get to walk 20 minutes to our hotel.

Snow monkeys are going to be worth it. It's going to take 45 minutes at this rate.

Oh, it's just so cold. I can't move any faster.

Snow Monkey Town, it says.

Won't you take me to Snow Monkey Town?

Still going. This is a very small, quiet town, probably the smallest town we've ever been to in Japan. And it's cool just to experience a totally different vibe from the big cities.

The walk was straight up and over a hill, but I recommend it, especially if you've been sitting and snacking on a train all day.

So tonight we're staying at our first Ryoken, which is a traditional Japanese hotel. But we're not sure if this is it because there are a lot of buildings really close together on Google Maps, and we can't read the sign.

I see the flip flops.

Are these the original flip flops? Oh, they're so hard.

Look at how Nate's walking.

No one's here.

They'll never hear me coming.

Wow. What a view.

I was really hoping it was going to be snowing when I went to see the snow monkeys, but all I see is blue sky. Good morning. What an experience last night was A Ryoken is very different than your Traditional hotel. And there are about four different types of shoes that you need to understand to do everything right. And last night, I made all the mistakes. For outside or inside? Outside.

Outside.

Inside. Inside. Okay. I think I made every mistake you could possibly make.

Oh, gosh.

I even watched a video on what you were supposed to when you got to one of these. But these, the wood ones are outside shoes.

Oh, shoes.

These are inside shoes. And then there's a special mat, and you don't wear any shoes on the special mat.

Oh, and you broke all the rules.

Well, really, I just wore those inside. And then the lady found me. After we finally got settled into our room, we spent the rest of the night soaking in the onsen baths, which, if you don't know, are traditional baths here in Japan, where basically you just take all your clothes off and you get into them with strangers.

I'm so confused. I have no idea what to do. So there's this room, and there's this. Am I supposed to be in that naked, or is that just for, like, a decoration? Then there's this. Do I get in that naked? And then there's one more. I think I'll start with this. I want to go get naked now.

They also give you these traditional robes, which are very different from normal robes that you receive at hotels, because not only are you supposed to wear them in your room, you're also encouraged to wear them throughout the hotel and even out around town. We're about to go to breakfast in our robes, but before we do, let us give you a little tour of our room. These are paper windows, but thankfully there is glass on the other side because as you can see, it is freezing. We slept on the ground last night. It's like a duvet that doesn't go all the way around the inside blanket. We do have a tv, our table and the chairs. These just look so funny with no legs. I think the way this works is during the day, when you're not sleeping, your bed actually goes in this closet. This is the shower situation. And then the last pair of shoes that you need to make sure you wear appropriately for the bathroom shoes, then you take them off before you go back into the room.

How I look? Ready for breakfast.

Wow.

Oh, my shoes. I always forget.

Still messing up this morning.

Oh, my gosh. This is all for us. We have our own private breakfast room with all these little bowls of food and a flame. What is in here? Yum. I think it's tofu soup.

This is not your typical breakfast buffet, but in a good Way. This is crazy. Having this much space for breakfast feels pretty ridiculous. It's like a culinary experience to start the day.

I love all the little bitty balls.

Okay, we're gonna enjoy this amazing breakfast and then it is finally time to go see the monkeys.

Cheers.

Cheers.

Not sure if they have coffee here. They're only serving green tea.

So if Kara is cranky when we're looking at monkeys, that's why.

Feels good to be back in the snow. So we just took a free shuttle from our hotel that drops us off at the entrance of the monkey park. And from here we have a 30 minute hike to get to the hot springs where the monkeys hang out.

All right, so I have a love hate relationship with monkeys at this point in my life. And I decided a while back that I was not going to purposefully go hang out with wild monkeys ever again. Because the first time I tried was in Thailand. One of them grabbed hold of my dragon. I had to fling it around to get it off. And if it would have bitten me, I would have had to have gone and gotten a rabies shot at the hospital. And then the next time we were in India and a monkey stole my sunglasses right off of my head and jumped up where I couldn't reach them. And we had to pay a guy to get him to throw him back. I'm hoping these monkeys change my mind about monkeys. Woo. You're gonna let me walk off the cliff?

So the story of the snow monkeys goes that in 1864, this onsen behind me was built here in the forest. And the monkeys got curious and they started coming down, felt the warm water. They liked it, they got in, they started warming up, which is pretty crazy because monkeys are like cats, they hate getting wet. Then all of a sudden, these monkeys were just hanging out in the hot spring and then they had babies. And then they taught their babies how to do it. And this is one of the only groups of monkeys in the world that willingly gets wet. And I guess at some point the onsen owner got tired of the monkeys hanging out in his bath, so they built some more natural baths up in the woods. And that's where the monkeys hang out.

Now shut up.

Oh, they're cleaning each other.

This is so stinking cool. I feel like I'm filming for National Geographic right now.

Look at this one, just playing in the water with its hand. It's like it's trying to grab something. They are so human. Like, look at their fingers.

Oh, look at those little hands.

He's like, what's Everybody doing down the hot spring?

Okay, that didn't take long. I officially love monkeys again. This is just digging in the snow looking for a snack.

So all the epic photos that you see of this place, everything we just showed you, it's all real. It's incredible, and it's totally worth coming for. But this is also the reality and the part that you normally don't see behind the camera. There are without a doubt more people than monkeys here. But honestly, it's been a great experience. Like, if I would have seen a photo of this, I would have been, like, not worth it. But everybody's been very respectful, just slowly working their way to the front to get their photos. Gets a little crowded at times.

All right, that is a wrap on this adventure. We're about to walk back down the mountain, then onto a bus, then onto three more trains to get us back to Tokyo. And that's where we're opening up next week.

Not the best night of sleep.

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I have no clue what that is, but as good as my footage is, it might as well be Sasquatch. You know when your grandmother used to lick her finger and then try to wipe something off your face? I feel like that's what's happening right now.

I'm still hungry.

It's been the theme of today. It's that time of the month for Cara, and for some reason, all she wants is chocolate.

I mean, and sake and coffee and.

Tea and sushi and ramen.

Hey, there's a Lawson.

There's always a Lawson.

You know what? Comment below Lawson's or Seven Eleven or Family Mart. All three of them are on every corner in all of Japan in our experience. And I thought it was a 711 girl, but Lawson. So I've been properly caffeinated now and I just had to share.

If you come here and you don't stop at Insys Cafe to get a coffee and a homemade apple pie, you are missing out. The apple pie is $6, but even I enjoyed it, which is rare. But the best part is people watching. This road is a slope. It's really icy. It's kind of funny to watch everybody slip and slide down. I'm allowed to laugh because I also felt thumbs up if you smiled at least once during the monkey scene. The end. Please subscribe.