I rode the world's fastest train.

Local producer: Yasuharu Matsuno at Mind Architect
Camera and edit: Julian Domanski

(This video has an English dub and limited audio description available. These are experimental and use AI-generated voices, so may not be perfect, and I can't promise they'll stay long-term. On supported devices, change the language option to use them!)

(you can find contact details and social links there too)

[TomScottGo]

I did consider whether to put mph or km/h in the thumbnail. Alas, that's not something I can localise to different regions yet...!

[erikziak]

Tom is the perfect ad for any company. This is a dream job. He gets invited all over the world for no other reason than his huge audience and his integrity as a person, keeping his videos down to earth, without any hype or artificial drama. It is nice to see quality being valued. I wish Tom the best and am looking forward to see more videos here.

[dkaloger]

Tom Scott is truly making the most out of his trip to Japan .

[destituteanddecadent]

"One local government keeps raising objections" - Fun fact, the prefecture of Shizuoka, between Tokyo and Nagoya, has historically been against high speed rail, since those would just skip over the prefecture altogether. Although they would have to provide the land space for the tracks, high speed rail doesn't allow for stops in "minor" areas, so for the local economy it would be like providing the shovel to dig their own grave. This happened back in the 60s during construction of the Tokaido Shinkansen and now, 60 years later, the same exact issue once again.

(Edit: it's similar to the "highways killing small-town roadside economies" problem that I'm sure every country has experienced on some level.)

[aeleron]

"500km/h and it feels like a train" reminds me of the pioneers of railway. Back then people were afraid of taking a train because they believed that speeds over 30km/h were unbearable for the human body and thus deadly.

[Someone-cdyi]

seems to be a whole lot more realistic than hyperloop will ever be...

[ensnep]

I can't believe that Tom's videos have gone from dropping drums and cymbals off of a cliff to being invited by JR to test-ride cutting edge trains in Japan.

[The..Commenter]

I don't think people realise how fast 1km in 8 seconds really is 😳

[nano_sweet]

As a Japanese local I thank you so much for traveling to the more rural parts of Japan and showing off some unique stuff here. To us it sometimes feels like everything is doom and gloom due to shrinking population and decades long recesssion but seeing you genuinely get excited about these things in Japan gives me hope in the place where I live and love. Thank you.

[xpreame]

That drive-by gave me chills. Wow. This is some incredible technology.

[zollotech]

So great to see this is still moving forward. Just like you I thought we would have them all over by now.

[TwitterRehab]

The people of Japan have a lot to be proud of with their transport. The amount of effort and skill that goes into creating this is amazing.

[tomatoheadfd]

It's so awesome to see the Japanese excited to share their advancements with you.

That multiple companies straight up offered you these close up views of their new projects is amazing.

[timmyZert]

With Tom in Japan and trying all sorts of transportation modes, surely it's time for him to try one of the many monorail lines dotted around the country....

[ethandavis]

The fact it still looked super fast at 1/4 speed is incredible

[slash]

It kinda feels like 27 years was the amount of time they needed to actually get such an insane piece of engineering to work reliably enough to put paying customers on it. This wasn't a future that never arrived, it was a future so incredible it needed this much time to get here.

[Yutaro-Yoshii]

Local here. I'm impressed by the level of coverage Tom has provided. Yes, there is one local government (Shizuoka prefecture) protesting on the construction. The tunnel cuts through one of the mountains where their river originates from, and they are worried that the river might dry up as has happened with a similar sized tunnel before. This is exacerbated by the fact that there will be no station to be built in Shizuoka, leaving them with potential damages with no benefits.

[jakobhartzmusic]

The part where the wheels come up at 5:30 is such a cool moment. What an amazing technology!

[timothyhopper]

3:44 "That's incredible! I don't have words. It's my job to have words for a moment like this, and I don't!"
If only more YouTubers were as articulate - and as humble - as Tom is.

[bubblerman]

Los Angeles to San Francisco is about 380 miles. Imagine being able to go that far in just an hour or so. That is insane and I can only dream that the US would develop their rail system