Japan Tour (3) – All aboard the Shinkansen!

9 September 2024

Japan was the first country in the world to build dedicated, narrow gauge railway lines for high-speed travel – the Shinkansen. We took the service for the first time from Tokyo to Kyoto and it was quite the experience. On this particular route (ending in Osaka) there was a departure every thirty minutes. These trains are often full and it’s wise to  reserve your seat in advance. We were lucky, we were able to find seats in one of the first three carriages reserved for passengers without a reservation on a first-come, first-serve basis.

Even when busy, the commuters line up behind each other in an orderly fashion as they patiently wait on the platform to board. Then the sleek train silently snakes its way into the station like some giant python. On time as usual. Even if it is seconds late, passengers get an apology from the operator, Japan Rail. A longer delay and they may even get a ticket refund.

Passengers disembark and board in a quietly efficient manner, you settle into your comfortable seat and minutes later you are whisked away on what feels like some kind of space craft. You are moving incredibly fast (up to 320 km/hr), the countryside flashing past before your eyes but yet you hear no sounds; not from the train, not even from your fellow passengers. All mobile phones are on silent.

The Swiss railways were the most efficient I had used up to now but this was on a different level. This was space-age, luxury travel at a very reasonable price (we paid USD 90 for the 450km trip which took 2 hours and fifteen minutes). The immaculately turned-out bullet train staff politely bowed as they entered and left our carriage. However, you do not need to show them your ticket; there are ticket-reading machines installed at every arrival gate.

The Japanese landscapes flew by. Weirdly, it seemed every piece of land was either a rice field, concrete or a forest-covered mountain. None of the houses seemed to have  a lawn. Even the parks were comprised of gravel and sand. Where was the grass?

Then we passed Mount Fuji. Fortunately, we were sitting on the right side of the train and visibility was very good. The sacred mountain loomed proud and majestic before our worshipping eyes. Our fellow passengers seemed less impressed, most of them were sound asleep, only to awake it seemed about 45 seconds before their destination, as if by magic. Unlike us, this was certainly not their first bullet train trip. 

We would make two further trips on the bullet train, from Kyoto to Hiroshima and from Hiroshima to Osaka. By then however, we had already become rather blasé, smirking at our gaping fellow tourists enjoying what was obviously their own baptism in the amazing Shinkansen.