So obviously Japan is very famous for the Bullet Train or Shinkansen. I have been using these when travelling between Tokyo, Osaka and Hiroshima. Here are some pictures of trains that I took at Tokyo station:

There are a few different types of Shinkansen train but these were the ones that use the Nozomi route I was taking. Departures for Osaka left something like every 10 minutes or something.

The thing that everybody knows about the Shinkansen is that they are incredibly fast and punctual. The average delay for these services is less than a minute and that includes delays due to natural disasters. I decided to compare my journey between Tokyo and Osaka and a journey I often take between Edinburgh and Preston on the Virgin Pendolino:

	Shinkansen	Pendolino
Max Speed	186 mph	140 mph (125 track limit)
Distance	300 miles	185 miles
Journey Time	2hr 33min	2hr 26min

The Shinkansen looks pretty good. It should be noted, however, that the Shinkansen operates on a separate rail network. In particular this means that intercity services cannot get stuck behind local services and freight trains. Also, the network can close at night for repairs and inspections where as in the UK a lot of freight traffic operates at night.

The most noticeable thing about the Shinkansen up close is the sheer size of the trains. They use the same gauge as the UK railways but the system has been designed to have very wide trains. Let’s look inside:

That’s 5 comfortable seats. There isn’t too much room for luggage on the Shinkansen (a common feature of British railways); however, I had sent my suitcase ahead using Yamato (10 quid for next day pick up and delivery from hotel to hotel).

One thing I was looking forward to was eating an Ekiben or train lunch (Eki = station; bento = packed lunch):

The shops in the station sell lots of different types. Some even have a mechanism to heat the food. They are a little expensive compared to the combini but when in Rome… I’ve been getting trains leaving at about 12pm. As soon as the train gets underway everybody gets their Ekiben out and tucks in.

I should also point out that I took a lot of care when taking these photographs and didn’t use a selfie-stick or anything like that. As the following warning poster points out, using a selfie-stick near the Shinkansen can have deadly consequences…