Japan's fastest bullet train "Hayabusa" running under the sea｜Hokkaido - Tokyo Shinkansen Travel

From Hakodate Station, I took the Hakodate Liner, a rapid train that connects to Shin-Hakodate-Hokuto Station. It usually takes 24 minutes, but this specific rapid train gets you there in a quicker 15 minutes.

I always buy my Shinkansen tickets from the unattended ticket vending machines at Shin-Hakodate-Hokuto Station. They're less crowded, very convenient, and support English language options. Remember, the Hokkaido Shinkansen has no unreserved seats, so all seats are reserved.

The waiting room at Shin-Hakodate-Hokuto Station offers a unique experience: you can watch the Shinkansen arrive from above! Most stations only allow views from the platform, so this is a rare and interesting perspective. I saw the Hayabusa Shinkansen, with its beautiful glossy form and color, arriving at 16:20 for Tokyo.

I boarded the Hayabusa Shinkansen, which departed on time at 16:20 for Tokyo. The journey covers 877.1 km and takes about 4 hours. The train is very clean and well-maintained, with 10 cars. I reserved a window seat in the second row, which felt spacious with 1040 mm between seats. There's a folding table, hooks, magazines, and electrical outlets at window seats. Between Hokkaido and Aomori, we passed through the 53.85 km long undersea Seikan Tunnel, which felt like going into the near future with periodic lights. The train maintains speeds over 300 km/h, similar to an airplane taking off. The crew switches at Aomori, where the line becomes the Tohoku Shinkansen, but you don't need to change trains. The journey ends safely at Tokyo Station.

During the journey, I enjoyed an 'Ezo Chirashi' ekiben, which I bought at Shin-Hakodate-Hokuto Station. It's packed with Hokkaido's typical seafood like scallops, herring roe, smoked salmon, steamed shrimp, salmon roe, sea urchin, and crab, all served over vinegared rice. It cost 1400 yen ($10.08) and was delicious! I also bought a Shinkansen-themed bottled water for 95 yen. Later, I was happy to find that in-train sales were back on the Tohoku Shinkansen, so I bought hot coffee and Hokkaido fresh cream vanilla ice cream. The ice cream is famous for being very hard due to its high milk fat (15.5%) and low air content, kept on dry ice. I had to wait for it to melt a bit, but it was incredibly rich, like eating whipped cream, and paired perfectly with the bitter, warm coffee.