I made this video just for fun and as a reminder of the many hours I have spent looking out of the Shinkansen at the countryside gliding past. I must have used it close to a hundred times commuting between Tokyo, Osaka and sometimes Fukuoka for work. It's clean, fast, on time and generally quite a smooth experience. However for some reason there always seems to be a competition between the pensioners as to who can eat the weirdest and most stinky bento. One old man opens his bento box with an expression on his face that seems to say "behold, sliced boiled eggs and crunchy fishy snacks". And then another old lady will open her bento "dried stinky squid, I win!". It is usually better to bring your own food on the Shinkansen on a long journey. Although the food isn't bad, it is expensive and if I wanted to burn money when I ate out I'd live in London.
The thing I love about traveling on Japanese trains is that speaking on the phone is considered rude. Oh, the times I've had to endure idiots on buses in America and wankers on the tube in London screaming down their phone things like "I'm on the train...no...I SAID I'M ON THE TRAIN". The Shinkansen also has quiet cars where phones have to be switched off completely.
The Shinkansen started running in 1964 in time for the Tokyo Olympics and hasn't had a single fatality due to collisions, derailments, typhoons or even earthquakes. There was one fatality when a child got caught in one of the doors and there are jumpers too but it is a safe train.
Top potential speeds of the Shinkansen would be 443 kph set by the Class 955 (300X) test train but general operation speeds are around 300 kph so I believe the TGV in France is actually faster. If you want to know more nerdy stuff about the Shinkansen you can go here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shinkansen
Enjoy the video.
The music in the video is "Muziqawi Silt" by the "Wallias Band". I chose the music because of the driving beat and the pentatonic melody slightly reminiscent of Japanese music. Here's to Ethiopian jazz.
Tags: shinkansen osaka tokyo train hunyaga travel journey sights kyoto temple 新幹線
