Wednesday 15 October 2008

Bullet Train in Japan

I took the bullet train!!

It was from central Tokyo to Osaka. A journey of over 500km in just 2.5 hours on the Nozomi train on the Tokaido line. Bullet trains are called Shinkansen in Japan. This one goes up to a maximum of 300 km/h. A return trip costs JPY 27,700 (USD 275).

Shinkansen lines

Oh yeah, you bet I got excited about it. This is a day trip I'm taking (for work though), so to maximise my time, I had to go there early. I took the 8am train (means I had to wake up and leave the hotel pretty early). My Dad says I'll be passing Mount Fuji on the way. Yay!

My ticket

I had my little breakfast (bought the night before) on the train. The train was really smooth. At one point, you can feel it accelerating as it gets out of Tokyo city. But other than that, you don't feel a thing. You never realise how fast the train is going, until an opposite train by pass us - and you realise you cant even focus on any window or see anyone else on the other train, everything is just a white and blue fuzz.

Ah... it was a really comfortable ride. So comfortable, in fact, that I easily fell into a deep sleep (factor in the early morning and nice breakfast). Until I woke up mid way... and freaked out!

DID I MISS MOUNT FUJI?!?!?!

Is this Mount Fuji?

This is the only 'mountain' I managed to see until I fell asleep again.

2 comments:

Jessie said...

so is that Mount Fuji? hhehehe...

nat said...

I dont know... this is what I saw. It didnt look so "great", and the train went through so many tunnels, I just go back to sleep.

I'd like to think that it is though ;)