We drove a Japanese train through the countryside 「明智鉄道運転体験」
I Like Trains like a lot actually some might even say a little bit too much like for example when I was young around the holidays my family and I would always set up these model trains these Markland trains around the Christmas tree and I would just stare at them I would just sit lay my head on the ground and stare at them for hours as they just drove right on past my face so needless to say when my wife Lindsay saw this advertisement for a quote unquote train driving experience in n a city in gefu prefecture she didn’t really hesitate before reserving us two tickets for my birthday so we arrived at AI station around 9900 a.m. and there we were guided to the train that we would be driving that day and what a glorious beautiful little train it was so we got on the train and they even had this little souvenir Booth with a bunch bunch of random little chachkies that you could buy to uh commemorate this momentous occasion now we couldn’t just hop in and start driving because it’s a train and that would be insane and dangerous and we’d probably kill someone I’m going to save these gloves forever hey don’t don’t put him on like that so before we could get in the driver’s seat of the train we were given this information pamphlet that we were supposed to follow along during a sort of instructional seminar and um listen here’s here’s the thing I’m pretty decent at Japanese uh like I recently just passed my N2 for for those of you who know what the hell that is but I would be lying if I said that train conducting terminology and vocabulary wasn’t way above our pay grade how much are you getting so after the instructional seminar it was time for The Professional train conductor to do a demonstration of how to drive the train which involved nearly two dozen steps before you can just get the train to inch along at slower than 10 km an hour which I’m not going to lie was a little bit scary are you nervous I’m not doing this but I wasn’t about to let the incredibly complicated steps to driving a train get me down I was going to drive a train that day it was my time my time to be the train boy excited are you do you see the tears flowing what do you mean excited my eyes aren’t welling up as we speak and before long it was my turn so I put on my little hat and I got in the driver’s seat I’m the captain now foree [Music] okaye [Music] [Music] for okay okay and after all the necessary precautions were taken we were off at a riveting 10 to 15 kmph this was so exciting I decided to include my entire unedited trip from start to finish in this video so sit back and enjoy as you watch as my childhood dreams [Music] unfold [Music] fore okay hi okay hi [Music] for okay okay okay [Music] pretty cool huh once I finished up it was Lindsay’s turn and nothing could have prepared us for what happened next is I I bestow upon the this heavy here you go thank you soy she wasn’t just better than me she was a natural born train girl it was like watching an artist at work calm collected elegant somehow she made the whole thing look effortless [Music] oh [Music] oh that is so cool after we finished up we were given a tour of all the mechanics of the train and while I was enthralled by everything this guy was saying to us Lindsay’s rampant unchecked ADHD made it a little bit more difficult for her to focus at the end of the day we were shown this monster that they have housed at the station and that’s when we learned they have train driving events for this steam locomotive 2o so we signed up for yet another train Driving Experience 1 month after that and you know what that means like comment and subscribe for part two if you want to watch us drive a choo choo train anyway see you later [Music] peace
My wife and I had the opportunity to drive the Akechi Tetsudo train in Ena City, Gifu Prefecture. Driving a real train has been a lifelong dream of mine, and driving one in the Japanese countryside was something I never imagined I would have the chance to do in my wildest dreams.
For reservation information, check out the Akechi Tetsudo Driving Experience website below:
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18 Comments
quite seriously a top 10 japan experience, i wanna chill with the train crew forever
Thank you for showing all the steps on the internet for how to start one of these up so I can go steal one now 🙂
Good job pal, I like trains too!
You have made one of your dreams come true. congratulations! It must have been as amazing as hitting Kaichu..
nerd
I love trains too!
Hoping to experience these excursions in the future.
Enjoy your next train driving adventure next month!
As someone who visits Japan often and has a huge obsession with trains, this is amazing! I would love to do this but as someone who doesn't speak Japanese (except tourist level haha) would this be something you could do considering the language barrier?
This is so cool… I should try this
And congratulations on passing your JLPT N2
This is one of the most awesome and envy inducing videos I've ever seen online. What an incredible and joyful experience!
Take my money now ! .. Some of the coolest things ive seen. Ive been to Japan 4 times, looks like trip# 5 up now ! 😉
That was a grand gift for your birthday! 😁
This is some short and sweet story telling.
I'm definitely subscribing for more!
Tom Scott's newsletter sent me here
Great video! I'm always prepared for my wife doing things better than me.
Aaaaaw. How he went from bouncy excitment to full focus
So cool, looking forward to the steam locomotive video (tom scott sent me too)
Where Steam Loco video? 😀
Where's the countryside?