There is no train like the Bullet Train

Picture if you will this scenario.   You need to travel for christmas, but home is about 400 miles away.  You could travel by car, but it would take hours on end, and traffic would be terrible.  You could pile on a bus, but buses are crowded and slow and uncomfortable.   You could take a plane, but with weather and the TSA, you may as well get a physical exam for the same effort. 

Now imagine you didn't have to do any of this.  Imagine if you could purchase a ticket on a train, but no ordinary slow 8000 stop train that takes 12 hours.  No, you are boarding a sleek, comfortable, 300 mph train that will get you to your location safely and promptly in under 4 hours.   That is the joy of bullet train travel.

When it comes to travel, most people have no idea about what convenience, comfort and punctuality means.  America prides itself on being a car culture, when in doubt you get in your car and drive where you need to go.   Japan, however, has the best, safest and most comfortable transportation system in the world bar none in my opinion.   You have no idea how convenient it is to simply leave your hotel, take a bullet train anywhere you want to go until you have done it.   

The Bullet Train or "Shinkansen" as it is called in Japan, is known for its high speeds, but few outsiders know how much effort the Japanese go to in order to run the system.  Looking at a time table for trains in general in Japan is like trying to decipher quantum physics.   The detail work companies go to in order to maintain the punctuality of the trains is insane.   If your train leaves at 1;40 pm, it leaves exactly at 1:39 with 59 seconds.

Train operators go through a sort of ballet in driving the train.  One can sit sometimes and see these men and woman making motions with their hands, checking timetables against pocket watches set into the dashboard and monitoring stations as they pass.   It's a remarkable thing to witness if you get the chance.

The passenger, meanwhile, sits in airline style seating, with food or concession brought aboard or served by staff in immaculately clean interiors.  Just watching the crews who clean an entire train in under 17 minutes is a thing to marvel.  These folks redefine multitasking, doing everything from flipping chairs to wiping down windows and seats to packing out trash.  There is no wasted movement, no wasted effort.

Contrast this with airplanes, buses, and cars which routinely run late due to weather or other circumstances beyond their control.  Japanese trains are NEVER late, and it was a world wide media sensation recently when a train left 40 seconds early from its station in Tokyo.

Having convenient, safe and prompt travel options like the Shinkansen allows anyone to travel anywhere and experience anything.  These trains invite those who travel upon them to step beyond where and what they know and experience the extraordinary worlds both known and hidden on the island nation. 

The Shinkansen is an enormous effort, and it was an enormous undertaking to build, which is perhaps why many countries are seeking to emulate it.   Personally, I would love nothing more than to have this service in the US.   Speaking from my own experience after a 12 hour flight with a layover due to weather, I remarked to my parents; "if we had the shinkansen we could just catch a train from the airport and be home in under four hours."  Alas we had to wait 8, with no guarantee our flight would actually arrive.

The Japanese originally called the bullet train something to the effect of "the super dream express."  It's an apt description for a remarkable vehicle.  The Shinkansen is constantly evolving, with the next stage of development being a magnetic levitation train that can go upwards of 600 kph.  Now that is a dream I would enjoy seeing come true.

Tokyo and Japan - A Traveler's Perspective

Arriving in Tokyo, one sees the city as a billion points of blue or white light.  From this perspective on land or sea, the traveler will see the vast metropolis of some ten million people and be awed by the experience.  There is so much to see and do that a single lifetime cannot encompass a fraction of it all, let alone learn to comprehend it.  All of Japan can leave the visitor who is unprepared (which is all of us, let's be honest) struggling to absorb the sensory overload which comes hurtling at us even as we descend in aircraft or bob forward in a boat.

The nation of Japan and Tokyo in particular are places poised in a strange yoga stance.  One foot leaps forward, bending and stretching with open arms towards the future.  Go to Akihabara, Odaiba, Ginza or Shinjuku and tell me one does not see the flashy, gaudy images of a future almost reminiscent of "Blade Runner."   Everything from robots to computers, bio-science, energy, the environment and humanity seems light-years ahead of its time.    The Japanese seek to improve with intuition.  They invent and reinvent, borrowing from other cultures.   This cycle and the intuition behind it come from a different place, however.

Using our imagined yoga pose, we can envision Japan with one foot stretching forward, but the other is bolstered in antiquity.  Two thousand yeas of absorbing and adapting other cultures into its own has not changed the spirit of Japan.  Go to temples, wander wooded mountains, eat ramen, watch the Japanese file dutifully into subways by the thousands, and you will see that soul still burns bright.  No individual or group can explore all the ancient secrets of Japan in a lifetime anymore or imagine the possible futures it creates.   Many try to see a single facet, explore it, but only scratch the surface of this ever-changing jewel of a country. 

For me thirty years in pursuit of a simple dream feels like a lifetime.  Japan remains demure, audacious, salacious and refined.  She entices as when I first ate seaweed when I was five and became enamored with her.  One could say I am in a tenuous marriage to the concepts and culture of Japan, even as I cannot invite myself to her home so often as I like.  Still, she extends an open invitation at least.    The overtures were made, conversation over coffee is had regularly and we remain friends even if we speak a different language.

In traveling to Japan and writing my thoughts in this new set of journals, I hope to continue what I began in my previous blog.   I hope to open the eyes of others and expand my horizons.   This will not just be travels to Japan, of course.  With luck, Japan is merely an appetizer to a much more expansive menu of places, peoples and cultures.   Let's get started!