Audience of One

Shinkansen

One thing they don’t tell you about the Shinkansen is the incredibly cheesy music they play as you approach each station. You’d think that one of the most technologically advanced trains in the world would show some sophistication, but unfortunately not.

It’s also not nearly as exciting as the nickname “bullet train” suggests. Actually, the name came from the shape of the original trains, one that they no longer use, and not necessarily anything to do with their speed. Which is fast, but not as impressive as you might think.

I’d heard various things about how you could stand on the platform with your watch, and at exactly the right time to the second the door you needed to get on through would become stationary right in front of you. It’s probably true, but unfortunately I’ve only travelled from one end of the line to another, meaning when I arrive at the station the train is already there. Plus my watch is slightly wrong.

Inside it’s just like any other train – in fact, not as good as some UK trains in that you don’t get electricity for a laptop. The food is ridiculously expensive as you’d expect. There’s not much footroom, but then Japanese people are generally shorter than me.

All that said though, it’s still the bullet train, and the bullet train is cool. You should all be jealous of me*.

* Note: don’t be jealous of me. Jealousy is bad.

Matthew @ 09:56, July 17, 2006 to Miscellaneous | Comments (2)