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1st class in 2022 looks like standard class from the early 1990s just without the hot food and comfortable seats.

Funny video. Love the potter trick, and the train whom looks like a sneaker..😊

I hope you had a good time in Scotland. Next time you're here please check out the trains going to Oban, Fort William and Mallaig, the trains themselves are nothing special and they're very old, but the journey is stunning. There is the Jacobite steam train though, which does the route from Fort William to Mallaig (though you have to book it way in advance because it goes over the Glenfinnan viaduct (as seen in Harry Potter)). Scotrail also has some Hitachi-built trains - the class 385 - which began running in 2017. The only true high speed trains in the UK right now are in the South of England - they're pretty nice but very expensive compared to the normal "slow" trains down there. It's a real shame you missed out on the proper meal due to the strikes. I did the Glasgow - London train first class a few times when the previous operator ran the train and the food and service were excellent throughout.

7:41 you have to slide the seat in front of you while you click the recline button for the recline to actually work. That’s the weird way to recline you seat in Europe 😅

As someone from Edinburgh, how did you like it (and Scotland)? If I'd known you were coming here I would have helped with local knowledge and accommodation (and given you a guided tour). You should really reach out to your fans in future trips. There are many people around the world who really appreciate your vids and want to help your channel. Regarding your journey, I'm so sorry you didn't do it pre-covid. First class East Coast mainline then meant you got hot meals on real plates. Small portions, but decent quality, and great service. No extra cost, including wine, spirits, beer, etc. It felt like a 'higher class' experience. Now, I just don't understand how they can justify the much higher prices. I would have advised travelling regular class and getting your food from the M&S at Waverley. I'm sure that you have so many destinations in mind, but I really hope you visit my country of Scotland again. Maybe you would consider The Jacobite next time (the Harry Potter train)? And the National Railway Museum in England is definitely a 'Mecca' for anyone interested in trains. Just don't visit their cafe; it's obscenely expensive. :)

"I'm English, and as such I crave disappointment." -comedian Bill Bailey explains the national mindset that leads to things like "tuna crunch roll"

Great Vlog !! Scotland 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 is Beautiful County. Country of Castles 🏰

Glad you were able to sample LNER on what is considered the UK's best mainline. Only several Azuma units may have been made in Japan. Almost all the units come from Hitachi's new factory in the Northeast of the UK.

Wow i missed the previous video so didn't expect you to be in the UK where i'm from! I've been watching and enjoying your videos for years! イギリスへようこそ！悪い電車体験でごめんなさい ^^'

Was so great to see you pulling into my home station of Newcastle!! As someone who has been on the excellent trains of Japan before, I'm kind of embarrassed about the state of our railways, but I hope you had a nice time anyway!

Finally, a video that combines my favourite things: trains and origami!

As a British person who has travelled to Japan many times, I am very interested to know what you thought of this "First Class" service. Even a basic non-reserved seat on the shinkansen is much better, isn't it?

By the looks of it, your seat was actually stuck mid-way between reclining and straight. You'd need to pull yourself forwards or backwards to get it into the position you want! Usually, you should press the button and then slide into the recline position, it's not like in some countries where it's moved automatically.

Ahh London; the sights, the smells, the sou- 13:49 ... ... never mind 😆

Wow... enjoy your tuna sub and chips................ in 1st class. Thanks, 7 dollar Subway combo.

My fav Japanese travel vlogger on youtube. You go the extra mile & travel outside of Japan. There are so many Japan travel channels now & thye all do same thing, is getting repetitive & boring to be honest so this is a refreshing change & much more interesting. I have seen Japan 5 times over now, is nice to see a foreign tourist's experience of travelling in the west :) Bravo Kuga!

Platform 9 3/4 is hard to miss! 😃😃😃

Thanks for another good video Kuga-san! I'm not a train enthusiast but seeing your content got me fascinated by how seriously countries around the world treat train travel, as opposed to my home in Australia where it's only seen as a budget option for low income or elderly travellers. Regional train travel is a depressing affair with the exception of luxury rail travel like the Ghan. Even that concept of a first class lounge which has appeared in a couple of recent videos, I'd never even considered that could ever be a thing, certainly not here. I love seeing how much other nations especially Japan respect and innovate rail travel please keep up the amazing work! Arigatou goziamasu!

Such a joy of seeing Edinburgh at the start of the video and of course Edinburgh Waverley itself. I was actually there in Edinburgh on the same day, checking out the fringe festival and trainspotting as well.

Great trip. Finally you try this train. Looks like the recliner seat is manual, not electric, so it need a bit of human power (based from few comments in this video). And yes railway strike make some service is bit reduced.

LNER really does have competition with Lumo. Except LNER has expanded to other destinations in Scotland and in Northeast England and East Coast. Whilst Lumo only does direct service from London to Edinburgh with less stops except stopping at Newcastle and Morpeth in Northumberland.

The origami part was beautiful! It would've been nice if the train crew kept it and displayed somewhere on the train

"As the self-proclaimed Ambassador of the solo travel Community...", that's is funny 🙂👍👍!

Thanks Kuga, it's always lovely to watch your videos x

I greatly appreciate your channel. The pandemic has negatively affected so many economies changing the travel experience for everyone. (Plenty of youtube videos showing the decline in the First Class airline experience.) Nevertheless, I do appreciate you trying out other rails to share with those of us who don't have the means or the health to travel. Happy to plan for a future trip given all the rail travel examples you've shared with us. Maybe I will check this out a year or two from now in the hopes there's a solid recovery in the future for all of us. Thank you for this video although you didn't have the experience advertised. Cheers!

Day and night difference between japanese bullet train and this one. Man how well the bullet train service is maintained kudos

After the British invented the railway we never bothered developing it any further. The 70's Bullet train in the York railway musuem has better seating than first class does today.

I hope you enjoyed your time in the UK, it's been a difficult year for rail travel with many disruptions and strikes. I hope you weren't delayed much.

Just to add, if you want to find the highest ground speed, do the measurement in the section between Grantham (birthplace of Margaret Thatcher) and Peterborough, which has a long straight section of rail across the Fen. That said, there was a railway strike at the time and it was late at night (around 22:30 I would guess) when the train travelled through that section, so temporary speed restrictions may have been in place. The Flying Scotsman only stops at York and Newcastle (upon Tyne), so it cuts out a lot of the acceleration, deceleration and dwell times at stations which your train was subjected to. That said, the track was not originally designed for high speed trains, so it is still much slower than shinkansen or TGV.

I love that you tried to get into Platform 9 3/4. ❤️

Had no idea they put that much thought into the "Azuma" name. Learned something today :)

Thank u for sharing😍 Another useful content besides European rail offer video😌 Hope everyone enjoy their travel to Europe 🚂

Edinburgh, one of my favorite cities in the world.

Thanks for taking us along Kuga. God Bless.

Yes I’m getting this to Scotland aswell in May!

Super amazing! I've been watching your videos from beginning to end. Thanks so much for the experience! :)

After a long time of watching you on Japanese trains it's very strange to see a video of yours in stations I know so well.

I did this Azusa train when I was back in the UK. It was surprisingly ok but I am more excited to travel on the Japanese trains when I go there soon. Although they aren’t as pet friendly as the UK trains with me having to stay in a carrier. So at least that’s one advantage Uk trains have over Japanese ones ☺️

I took the Azuma earlier this year. While it looks cool from the outside and has a decent legroom, the seats are hard which makes it uncomfortable for long periods of time. Nevertheless the London-Edinburgh route has quite some nice views and is enjoyable despite the tough seats. The accent in Edinburgh is "neutral" as compared to Glasgow and the highlands. Not quite the textbook Scottish English that you'd expect 😅

Wow that's like travelling from Melbourne to Albury in Australia!

What a wonderful trip. UK often gets a bad rep of bad weather, but it's not always so.

Coffee & Crisps? Interesting combo.

How can British railways dare to name high speed train a train whose speed hardly reaches 200 km per hour ? It is sheer cheat, all the more the shape of the train is cheekily disguised under a TGV shape.

I'm sure I'm hardly the first to say or think this, but 'grasslands' made me chuckle. Kuga, we just call those fields :)

This first-class experience is only a shadow of what it was only 20 years ago. Then there was a full 3-course dinner available with waiter service. How sad.

The kanji for east (東) is normally pronounced "higashi" in 訓読み. I can only think of the word 東屋 where it is pronounced "azuma".

if I know you am at England I buy you a cuppa and food! keep up the good work matie

That was fun ride from Scotland to England and to be able to enjoy countrysides of Scotland and England. It's a bummer that your chair recliner didn't work. But still it was a fun ride to watch.

York's Railway Museum is fantastic. They have a 1960s Shinkansen. It's so big!

I hope you enjoyed your time here in Edinburgh and saw the city at its best. I’ve been to te railway museum in York and its absolutely brilliant. It has a small section of a Shinkansen.

Hitachi's UK factory is next to Heighington an obscure station on the local line from Darlington to Bishop Auckland. Obscure, but historically very important. The local line is part of the Stockton & Darlington Railway, and Heighington is the place where the Locomotion was unloaded after its journey by road from Newcastle (which had a locomotive factory but no public railways) and put on the rails. 2025 is the 200th anniversary of the opening of the S&D and there will be some big celebrations.

No reclining seat?! Thank you for enduring reality for us to enjoy fantasy!

Amazing scenery

Sad that the seat controls didn't work. Maintenance isn't as efficient in the UK as it is in Japan. I've not have any chance to go in 1st class in the Azuma trains yet, but it still looks pretty good. Shame the last time I could have taken it, the rail workers were on strike. If you're ever back in the UK, would be good to set some time aside for places like York, Manchester, and other such places. Glad you at least got to see Edinburgh, it's pretty nice up there 👍 Central London can get boring pretty quick, so it's good to get the chance to see other places.

LNER used to be an absolutely wonderful train service... I travelled a lot between Newcastle and London a the end of the 1990's and into the 2000's and the days when it had exclusively 225 rolling stock, china plated full food service an onboard chefs were they heyday of the lines most recent revival. Now, it is as mediocre as the rest of the UK network... I will be honest, I have never set foot on a Azuma train, not had the need to, but they don't fill me with the interest or excitement that rail travel used to have.

You went to Edinburgh in *August*????? Wow that is brave. If can get to York, you should go. It's got pretty much everything. Vikings. Normans. Angry Kings named Henry. Museums. Funky little shops. You can climb the Yorkminster (bring your inhaler). But someone will have to help you find Fish and Chips, because I never was able to find anything worthwhile in all of England. I was intrigued to see the English call their sandwich a "sub". That's one of the yankee words.

I've traveled a few times with LNER, both class 80x and Class 91+Mk4. Amazing experiences with plenty of free food and drinks aboard with super friendly staff. By far my most loved long distance experience in Europe, comparing to classics as TGV, Thalys, Eurostar, ICE and regular long Intercities in style of SNCF, SNCB, NS, SBB and DB.

You came to Edinburgh, nice!

Thank you Kuga for bringing us along!! I love your channel and channel? Would you ever consider traveling in the US? 😊😊

Haha, a beautiful train running on an ancient track. Four hours to go 332 miles / 534 kms so not so fast. It takes 7 hours 40 mins to drive

The BR Class 800 "Azuma" is a close cousin of the JR Kyushu Class 885 "Sonic" which I would often ride from Beppu to Hakata. The Sonic has a nicer wooden interior though!

Nice video. I learned something new, Azuma means East in Japanese. Thank you! :)

Looks like you had a lot of fun.

York train museum has an old Shinkansen coach, original series I think. My son, age 3, ran in and immediately ripped off the little headrest cloth from one of the seats. I was so embarrassed!

I am so embarrassed and I don’t even live in UK - our trains in 🇨🇦 aren’t any better - did I say I was soooo embarrassed 🫤 if that was first class am afraid to ask what economy was like 😳 do hope the rest of your time was better spent 🙏

This was a very cool video. That seat not reclining 😮

oh my god I love those cookies, I got them in a WEEbox which is a subscription box of random stuff from Scotland. I started to drool on my computer. What a cool trip you have had! Thanks for sharing it with us all.

Excellent video

Thank you for sharin

I only took the train from the station in London to Heathrow, but it was fun. I love riding on trains.

Thanks. The "cookie" in the lounge, is the famous Scottish shortbread (never called "cookies")

Thanks for the trip. Enjoyed seeing your napkin origami art!

Great vlog.

I love the costal part of the journey

York has some great Roman ruins, and there are some Viking remains there too.

Great video as usual. I fear your enjoyable travel on japanese trains has soured you on other countries. Which I get seeing your amazing japanese train voyage videos.

I loved your paper crane.😊 I've tried to do that, but didn't succeed. 😢

Built in Japan .. NOT maintained like in Japan = big disappointment. Sad comparison but true. Long journey stuck in ome upright position. Thanks for the ride I share your pain. Bushyboy Oz.

The front of this train reminds me of Engine Speedor from Go-Onger. But I love these videos so much! Arigato!

It was nice you witnessed azuma Hitachi it can does also run from.here aberdeen dundee Edinburgh etc too London I hope you had many nice memories I agreee LNER very striking lovley ivery

OMG YOU'RE IN ENGLAND?!?!?! I'M IN ENGLAND!!! THIS IS SOOOOOO COOL!!!!! 🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳

i travelled with u all along my frend from Belgium

I do enjoy getting to see the world from your videos, as i of yet gotten to leave New Zealand.

Nice video 👍

after watching a lot of Kuga's videos traveling in Japan, it's really noticeable how much lower the level of cleanliness and just.. crispness is on everything, like the used glass that's still there and the crap on the floor, and they don't even have a robotic AI digital reclining seat with NASA influence or a multi-system automatic bidet

Sorry you didn't get to get off at York There is the National Railway Museum there is also the National Miniature Railway Museum Plus 2000 years of history too, Romans, Saxons, Vikings etc.

You actually get food on trains outside of Japan!

Hitachi is Japanese but I think these trains were also made in Newton Aycliffe, England.

Wao it's so beautiful

Thank you for the origami crane

You unfortunately missed the Original Bullet Train donated to the National Railway Museum at York. There is a video on KZfaq featuring it’s journey from Nippon to England and other information on the internet. Again you use American English!. Cookie is American. Biscuit is English. The seats on the Azusa are heavily criticised here for being hard and uncomfortable and the units themselves were temporarily withdrawn because of metal fatigue cracks. Pity that the strikes meant you were denied one of the best dining facilities because I’ve observed that you like your food!. 👍🏻🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿❤️

Travelling by train is indeed a different experience. I've heard there are cheaper ways to get train tickets.

You are such a good looking man and I love your videos keep it up

Thank you Kuga very informative as usual

It's a shame you didn't have time to get to the National Railway Museum in York. I've been there twice and would go again given the chance. During my trip to Japan in 2007, my wife and I managed to get to several rail museums (plus the Seikan Tunnel Museum and the tunnel tour, because you could still get to Tappi-Kaitei station).

I love your video it is very interesting how each country dose. I will continue to watch your videos . I really like your napkin puppet it was very cute.

Great video My wife and I are travelling north to Edinburgh from Newcastle next month on the LNER Azuma and are looking forward to the trip and the lovely coastal scenery on the way. We hope our seats recline properly.

Please go on the Class 395 between London to Dover Priory via Ashford then come back up on the 375 train to London Bridge via the mainline

ฮาดีอ่ะ นางพับนกเล่น 🤣🤣