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  • In this video I'm gonna share with you guys my top Shinkansen travel hacks.

  • So I've traveled on the Shinkansen many times over the last 15 years

  • But traveling with local people and Maiko, I found out that they have a lot of tips offered that I didn't know myself

  • So I wanted to take all their tips and all the stuff that I know and put them all in one video

  • So in today's video we're gonna take the Tokaido Shinkansen which takes you to major cities like Nagoya, Osaka, and Kyoto

  • Alright, so let's get started. Let's start with cheaper tickets

  • A lot of people get tickets from the ticketing machine like this one

  • ticketing machines are the most convenient way to buy a ticket and then menus are offered in several different languages making it super

  • Accessible for most tourists who know where they're going

  • Also, there are ticket offices where someone will help guide you through the purchase, which is super nice if you're a new traveler

  • But what a lot of people don't know is that this cute ways to buy tickets

  • The first way to get cheaper tickets is to buy that paratha

  • Oh my thickness which are offered at the junior Tokai Tauruses

  • You can save more than 2 thousand yen, which is about $20 depending on where you go. It does have some restrictions though

  • First of all, there are three types of Shinkansen Nozomi Hikari and Kodama

  • Kazumi is the fastest and make the least amount of stops while Kodama is a slowest and stops at each station

  • You can only take the Kodama train which stops at every station along the route. You can only use it at major stations

  • You must get on and off at the specified station. Otherwise, you'll have to pay for a second ticket at full price

  • Also, you have one day in advance at the store or five days in advance online, but don't worry

  • I'll leave a link to all this information in the description, but one thing you need to know about these

  • Which is the smallest in train

  • I would recommend buying these tickets if you're going somewhere close because the Train makes a lot of stops

  • And the second option they get cheaper tickets. Is that the Campion choice?

  • Let me explain Kim can shop to a discounted ticket shops? You can find these little Sol's scattered throughout the entire city

  • You can purchase discount and one-way tickets from them cheaper than if you bought them from the station

  • Just make sure to buy tickets for the right dates

  • Oh and the ticket shop sells lots of other discounted tickets like department store gift cards theme park tickets movie passes and even McDonald's coupons

  • Alright, so let's talk about reserved and unreserved seats now reserved seats are little more expensive maybe roughly around a thousand to two thousand

  • Yen, so if you guys want to save money then I recommend of buying the unreserved seats

  • So if you're planning to save some money and get an unreserved seats

  • There's a few things that you need to know because you will be competing with other passengers for the same seats

  • Exits on train platforms are generally in the middle

  • So you'll find is that the middle carts on trains are usually the more crowded ones?

  • So what you want to do is go to ends of the trains and for the least crowded seats

  • But I would stay away from the first in the last car because those train cars are generally smaller

  • The reason being is because the driver seats are in that location, which makes the cart even smaller

  • So if you'd at the front of the Train, I would say get on cart number two

  • Which gives you a better chance of getting an unreserved seat?

  • Oh, and for those of you or just a reserved ticket?

  • but miss your train you can use that same ticket on a later train and get on an unreserved to see so let's talk about

  • A cool trick that's called flipping the seats

  • If you're in a group you can put the seats like this

  • Make sure to put it back when you're done if you're bringing luggage with you

  • Remember that the only space that you have is the overhead compartment above your seat, which is not that much for international travelers

  • Oh and don't think to store your luggage in the vestibule area in between

  • carriages as this is strictly prohibited and there's no designated space for large luggage in these area like in the nutty to express and

  • Skyliner trains but little hint you can reserve the back seats and use this extra space here

  • And if you're flipping the seats you can also use this space too

  • Here's another tip for those of you who are looking to charge your laptop for your phone while you're riding the train

  • Basically, there's two types of Shinkansen

  • there's a

  • 700 which is an older model and there's an N 700 which is the newer models new models have electrical outlet sat next to each

  • Window on every aisle just like this one right here while the 702 only sometimes have outlets

  • So if you really really want an outlet have been definitely taken n700 train now

  • There's going to be several you that want to charge at the same time

  • Then definitely bring a splitter one more thing. Each card should have electrical outlets at the front and the rear of the train

  • so even if you own a

  • 700 and you can try to find one in the front or the rear if you want to try to book one of those seats

  • And maybe that might be more convenient for you

  • Alright, so let's talk about Wi-Fi

  • Yes, there is a free Wi-Fi in the chickens and provided by Junior. It's pretty easy to access

  • The only thing to ask is for you to register an email address. It's not the fastest speed but better than nothing, right?

  • Oh, and for those of you who don't like the middle seat

  • You guys might want to know that the middle seat is five centimeters water than the aisle seat and the window seat

  • It's pretty cool, right?

  • One thing you might want to know is that the food carts are only available on Nozomi and Hikari trains not on Kodama

  • So if you're writing on Kodama definitely snag your food and drinks in advance

  • Also prices are more expensive on the food carts compared to prices outside

  • so I suggest you use it as a last resort if you didn't have time to pick up your snacky snack on the way to

  • The Train and so these are the green seats

  • I wanted to show you this area because well as actually that's pretty premium

  • And if you want to like have a better bride, then you can actually come here. So on the way back to Tokyo we're taking

  • which is actually not so bad this cost a little bit more but

  • Pretty nice don't you think what's nice about these green seats is you just have more space all together

  • Plus you get a cool footrest and you get the seat warmer check this out. So

  • There's a trade here, but if you want there's actually a tray here too

  • so second tray

  • So this button here allows you to recline just like that and then press up and moves you forward

  • You don't actually have to like put any additional pressure on it, which is nice

  • Give you

  • All right, this includes my top Shinkansen travel hacks if these hacks helped you out help me out and hit that like button

  • Let me know in the comments how you think the Japan Shinkansen train compares to your country also for those frequent travelers?

  • Let me know how many of these hacks you knew about already

  • And if you want more Japan travel tips hit that subscribe button as I upload a video once every week on Saturday mornings Japan time

  • Catch you guys in the next one

In this video I'm gonna share with you guys my top Shinkansen travel hacks.

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