I Rode On Japan’s Fastest Bullet Train in FIRST CLASS Across The Country – Gran Class JR East

Japan’s first class bullet train experience, AKA GranClass, was everything I wanted it to be and more! Thank you JR East for allowing me on your beautiful train!

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Ladies and gentlemen, welcome aboard the Tohoku Shinkansen. We wish you a pleasant journey. Holy moly, I’m excited. It is about 7:00 a.m. right now. I’m  at Tokyo Station, and I’m about to get on Japan’s first-class Shinkansen. This service is only  offered to a few areas in Japan. So today, we’re  

Going to leave from Tokyo Station, and we’re going  to Morioka Station, which is in Iwate Prefecture. Right away, you’ll probably notice the  train is a bit different from the most   commonly seen Shinkansen in Japan. And  it’s because this is the Hayabusa 101,  

Technically the fastest bullet train in  Japan, which is very exciting. It’s very,   very different from the other ones, and especially  inside the GranClass. If you want to go get,   like, a Bento Box for lunch, you can go grab  that from the New Day’s convenience store,  

And I’m so excited to see everything  that they’ve got inside. Let’s go. Oh my gosh, this is crazy. It’s so beautiful.  I’ve never flown like first class on an airplane,   but I feel like this is what it  would be like. Oh, luxurious, okay. First impressions. Oh, oh yeah, oh yeah.

So let’s do a little seat tour. This is—it’s   like a little drinks table, very nice.  Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh. I think at one point, they’re actually going to bring  us out, like, food and drinks,   and then… the fun stuff. This is all electric.  Here we go.

Oh, what? Even this part comes out   so that your feet don’t have to dangle off  the edge. We woke up really early today,   so I think I might actually take a nap later.  Oh, we’ve also got a reading light here as well.

This has ruined me. This has ruined me for  bullet trains for the rest of my life. I’m   going to Brisbane in a couple of weeks, and I’m  like, “I don’t even want to look at those trains.”   Woooooow We also have a little slippers bag.

It actually feels like I’m on an airplane right now. These kinds of slippers are normally, like, way too  big. My feet are, like, sticking out the end.   These actually fit me nicely, comfortably around  here, and they’re really warm and soft. Damn!

They’re going to be like, “What was the highlight  of the trip?” I’m like, “The slippers fit me!” Welcome aboard. This is the welcome set. Oh thank you. Ooooh so nice! Arigato gozaimas. What’s in the bag? Oh, beautiful, a bottle of   water. It’s actually very fancy. I like it.

I got chocolate! And then “Smart Premium Cabin.” Welcome to GranClass. GranClass delivers quality and  spaciousness unprecedented in train travel. Oh,   wow. Yep, this just feels like an airplane. So the Western meal is created by Dean and DeLuca,   which is—I don’t know where that brand is from,  but it’s super famous.

And then the Japanese one, I read online that it was created by, like,  a really famous chef. I think I’ll choose the   Japanese meal. Yeah, can’t believe I’ve just—I’ve just given my order to someone on a Shinkansen. Thank you for waiting. This is the Japanese meal. And non-alcohol sparkling wine.

That’s a super unique flavor  that I’ve never tasted in a pickle before. food experiences on the Shinkansen. One thing that’s, like, this is a bit niche,   but I find that like Japan does non-alcoholic  drinks that are supposed to taste like alcoholic  

Drinks. They do them really, really well. I mean,  they obviously also have white wine and red wine   and all of that, but it’s still like 9 a.m.,  so I’ve gone with the non-alcoholic variety.   It’s not Grand class? No, no, it’s Gran! GranClass.  Everyone that I’ve told, they’re like, “Oh, the GrandClass!”

I was like, “No, no, no,  no, no. You don’t get it. It’s GranClass.” Poor Chris has been running around  filming me doing everything. He hasn’t actually gotten to sit down  yet. What do you think? It’s okay. Wooooow. What?! How does that-?

Chris is now going to sit here  for like the next 20 minutes, like, opening   and closing it just to see the mechanisms  of how it works. He does this every time. So this isn’t like a GranClass specific thing.  This is just a Japanese-Shinkansens-are-amazing thing but

Thing, but this is fancier than a lot of hotels  I’ve been to. It’s got, like, the wash here, soap   there, and the dryer all in one section. Amazing.  My little Brisbane mind is blown every time. Well, that was an amazing ride, but  unfortunately, we’ve arrived. Not unfortunately,  

I’m actually really excited to see Morioka.  But that was like the most luxurious 3-hour trip. It went so quick, man. Goodbye, goodbye, beautiful Shinkansen. I will miss you forever. So Morioka has some beautiful things to see  in spring and winter, but since it’s autumn,  

I am really looking forward to seeing the  leaves. I have actually never seen these big,   big, big Maple Leaves before in Japan.  I don’t know, have I? I don’t think I   have. This feels like America or Canada.  Big! Oh, it’s so pretty. Oh my.

So one of the food specialties from  Morioka is something called Reimen,   which is a cold noodle dish in, like, a  spicy broth. It’s really unique to this area,   and apparently, it came from the northern  peninsula of Korea, so essentially, North Korea,  

In 1954. Then they opened this restaurant for the  first time so this is the original restaurant that   brought Reimen all the way to Morioka, and this  restaurant also serves yakiniku as well. So if   you’d just prefer to have that instead, you’ve  got your own plate on the table. You can cook it there.

I’m excited to try. It sounds good. Wow, those noodles really are, like, quite chewy,   and the soup is really nice. It’s like a little  bit sweet. It’s really light. I’m really into it. That’s really good. So we just arrived at our next destination,  which is called Nansho-so, which is like an  

Old traditional house. I guess that’s just been  converted into this beautiful garden indoor area   that you can sit indoors and outdoors to enjoy  the view. And like the garden is so beautiful.   I’ve seen like photos of this place in autumn and it looks outrageous. It’s so nice.

Oo, we have arrived at a place called  dens- jou- de- Woah. Den-sho-en. Yeah, it’s kind of like a little village of little  thatched roof houses. They’ve turned them   into these little historical, kind of like  museums but way more exciting than a museum,  

More interesting. They’re really beautiful to  look at. Yeah, I love them. I love them so much. Didn’t I say? I was just saying to Chris  this looks like a place a cat would be,   and I was like I want to  pet a cat. It’s right here!

Okay, so it is Day 2 in Morioka.  This morning we checked out this   old historical building. It’s very European  style, which was really, really beautiful,   actually. And now we’re heading to a soba  restaurant because there’s a kind of soba  

Called Wanko Soba. It’s a very particular kind of  soba style, and you’ll see in a minute. So Wanko Soba is a kind of soba dish where it’s just soba noodles with the sauce in it. But they’ll serve   it in these tiny little bowls. That’s kind  of it’s essentially like one big mouthful  

Worth of soba. And someone will be sitting at  your table, and they’ll just keep serving bowl   after bowl after bowl until you tell them to  stop. And you kind of make your own record,   like how many soba bowls you can eat. I’m not  super hungry right now, so I don’t think I’m going  

To have a huge number. But yeah, I don’t think  I’m breaking any records today, but we’ll see. It’s not a race!  It feels like a race! They’re like standing there the whole time,  like, waiting to put the next one. 15 of these small bowls equals one regular  bowl of donburi.

You got to get at least 15! but the average number for women is about  30 to 40, and for men, it’s about 50 to 60. So basically, you just keep  going until you want to stop,   and you put your lid back on, and then  that signifies that you’re finished.

Is it too early to put the lid on? Got to be quick! Oh my gosh! The pressure! Yay! That’s so funny. It’s like the most  pushy a Japanese person has ever been. Not bad considering that I wasn’t  really hungry at all before we started. A little above average.

Tohoku people are supposed to be more chill,  but I feel like Wanko Soba doesn’t fit into   that category. It’s like, “No, no, you left  a gap! I’m going to put more soba in your   bowl!” It’s kind of like a game in a way. It’s a  fun experience for sure. It’s really quite unique.

Oh, it’s instantly cold. Are you  going to be okay? Oh wow. Yeah,   you need to get your jacket. Oh no. The taxi is gone. Oh my gosh! It’s like walking into a freezer! Oh my gosh! It’s just a little bit claustrophobic. Woah, this is so cool!

Ah, careful with the  camera Chris. You don’t even have the   strap around your wrist. Are you crazy? Do you know how much that camera cost? Are you crazy? Don’t even joke about it! It was such a long walk in. I really  didn’t think that there was going to  

Be much here. I’d like given up hope. I was like,   “It’s not going be much,” but this is  crazy. I take it back. It’s all beautiful. And that was pretty much the end of  our little trip to Morioka. From here,  

We just headed back to Tokyo on the regular  Shinkansen, which honestly feels like a bit   of a step down from the GranClass, even though  they’re both really amazing. But not without   buying some souvenirs first from a shop called  Fesan at Morioka station. We got the Kamome no  

Tamago and also the Nambu Senbei, which were  both delicious and helped me deal with the   fact that I’m now just completely ruined  for bullet trains because of my wonderful   experience on the Grand class. It was really  such a such an amazing experience. Felt like  

I really got to tick off an item that’s been  on my bucket list for quite some time now. Chris and I were talking recently because  we didn’t actually look up, we didn’t know   how much these tickets cost. And, you know,  we were guessing how much do you reckon the  

GranClass seats cost after having experienced  it. And Chris guessed like $1,000. I guessed   more. More like $500 to $700. And then I looked  up the price of the tickets online. And yeah,   no, definitely not anywhere close to that.  On top of the regular Shinkansen fare that  

It would’ve cost you, it only cost 11,310  Yen more, which is crazy to me for all of   like the service that I got, the comfortable  chairs, the meals, the little welcome kit,   everything for only an extra like $110 Australian  dollars. In the US, it’s like $80 or something  

Crazy. Blew my mind. I couldn’t believe that  it’s not more expensive. So now, like having   had the experience and knowing what the price is,  I would say 100% it’s totally worth the extra fare   on top. Totally worth it. Like even if it’s just  like a one-off just to feel a little bit fancy,  

To feel a little bit luxurious every now and  then. So worth it in my opinion. The tickets   are super easy to buy online. You just go to their  website and then select where you’re leaving from  

And going to and the time of departure and then  just scroll down here to Grand class at the very   affordable price. And then click buy tickets, log  in, and you can purchase the tickets from there.  

And you can do all of this on their official  website. So check out the link in the description.   Thank you so much to JR East for sponsoring this  video and for taking me on this trip. And thank  

You so much to you for watching this video all the  way through to the end. If you like this video,   you’ll probably also like this video about  trains in Japan. And they’ve got, like,   a really a really, really strong fandom here,  like extreme fandom. And I found it extremely  

Interesting, and I learned a lot about trains.  And now I have a whole new appreciation for   trains. And if you enjoyed this video, please  leave a like and a comment and subscribe if   you’re not already. Thank you so much for  watching, and I’ll see you guys next time. Bye.