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.
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.
