Onboard The CRAZIEST Looking High-Speed Train Japan Has Ever Built
Nothing screams bullet train quite like Japan’s iconic 500 Series Shinkansen, known for its distinctive design featuring a long, bullet-like nose. This train has been a staple on the Sanyo Shinkansen route, connecting Tokyo, Osaka, and Hakata for many years. Now, as it approaches retirement in 2027, join me in this video, as I travel on one of the last services operated by the 500 Series trains — the Kodama Shinkansen.
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Train type: 500 Series Shinkansen
Route: Shin-Osaka – Okayama – Hiroshima – Hakata
Train: Kodama 851
Distance: 145km
Journey time: 1h18m
Average speed: 111 km/h
Price: From 5610 JPY ~ 35€
Thumbnail foto by: Takeshi Kuboki CC BY 2.0
00:00 Intro
00:28 Okayama Station
3:40 Train Arrival and Boarding
4:44 Depature from Okayama
5:19 Route map
5:55 Why the Kodama service is slow
6:45 Interior Showcase
8:45 Seat Showcase
9:16 Future of the 500 series
9:40 Tickets
10:03 Hiroshima Arrival
22 Comments
Excellent video
7:14 correction here, i believe the tray table are folded inside the side arm rest on each seat, because some of the old train (and some new train as well on Japan) actually tucked in the table inside the seat arm rest, so i think you didn't check it and just say "they are no tray table" because most of the Japanese train have airlines style folding tray table😅
Vent lige er det den første video i forår what men ja når jeg skriver det her så ligger jeg ned i sengen med sodavand og chips så er mærkelig grund
Sad it will be retired soon. It's such an iconic train!
There are tray tables in the arm rests
Just in time before its retirement.
Great video Simon💯 You're the best🏆 Did you know that VR has started realesing new Eko class seats?
I love the stations walls that keep anyone from falling on the tracks. I wish us in the U.S. had them.
The 500 series was designed by the German industrial designer, Alexander Neumeister, who also designed the ICE 3 and ICE-T.
Okayama looks like a beautiful city. Long park with canal/river.
A lot of information are missing that were worth mentioning but wasn’t in this videos
7:00 these seats are in fact the original 500 series green car seats. And I believe one of the comments also mention it but yes, being a green car seat there IS a tray table, but it’s just that it’s tucked away inside the armrest of the seat.
7:58 the seats that you fully reviewed in the video are actually from the same seats that were on the 700 series RailStar. These seats were implanted years ago because back then the 500 series from car 4 to 5 didn’t have 2+2 as a reversed seating, so JR West put these seats here.
8:12 these 2+3 seating seats are actually the original 500 series Non reversed seatings even dating back to when they first come into service.
Another missing piece of information is that when they first ran Nozomi, they originally ran as 16 cars. They were shorten to 8 cars when they became Kodama and reasoning behind it being downgraded to 285 km/h is due to the technical equipment it has being too heavy to achieve 300 km/h.
When these train sets were running in Nozomi limited stop service between Tokyo and Hakata from 1997 to 2010, they were 16 cars long and could reach speeds of 300 km/h (186 mph) on parts of the San'yō Shinkansen line between Shin-Osaka and Hakata. But passengers didn't like that "airplane fuselage" feel of this train set, and JR West replaced them with N700 train sets after 2007 with a roomier feel inside the cabin and the ability to maintain 300 km/h more often than the 500 train sets.
JR West plans to phase out the 500 Series and the 700 Series Hikari Rail Star train sets by 2026, replacing them with modified eight-car N700A train sets on Kodama service.
The ultra sleek and chic Nozomi 500 is the most bold and beautiful high speed train ever built…and the color scheme is perfect.Thanks for posting.
Train stations and platforms in Japan are unbelievably clean, shiny and ever new looking while most Amtrak facilities are grimy, dirty and so unappetizing.
It's designed by Alexander Neumeister from Munich, Germany – the most influential train designer ever, followed by Ken Kiyoyuki Okuyama.
That is truly an icon of Japanese rail. Its development in the 1990s was a big project for JR West, who needed a fast Shinkansen to compete with airlines in the Osaka-Hakta route. So they set their sights on the fastest operating top speed of any train on earth at the time, 300km/h, tied with France’s TGV. The development team had to reduce the size of the train’s cross-section to reduce air resistance and the long nose did that and quashed tunnel boom. Fun fact, that sharp beak-like profile was implemented by chief engineer Nakatsu Eiji, who took inspiration from his hobby of birdwatching and the kingfisher’s long beak that helped it dive very fast. I’m lucky to have rode this train twice before, hope I get a few more before its final goodbye.
Has there been any major accidents on these trains.
It really does look like a spaceship, best looking Shinkansen imo
Thank you for this video. Alexander Neumeister's N500 train remains my favourite shinkansen design.
500 Series Shinkansen indeed was the Shinkansen with its appearance as a real "bullet train". This Shinkansen is also the only one designed by foreign designer.
When first served in 1995 they were capable of running at 300 KPH with 16 cars in one set, actually its maximum operation speed is 320 KPH but since Shinkansen infrastructure in Sanyo Shinkansen is only capable of coping with 300 KPH then it was restricted to that speed.
The reason its being shortened and downgraded to run just 285 KPH and served Kodamar only is because passengers didn't like "airline style" appear, N700 series practically had same capability but more efficient, and also when JR Group debuted its online reservation 500 series had different layout compared other Shinkansen train (they want streamline its service)
Fun fact, 500 series actually had longer operational service than most of 700 series who debuted much younger than 500 series.
This is the bullet train version of the viral quote “Asian Don’t Raisin”
Love hearing your passion for Japanese trains