Thursday, March 12, 2009

Bullet Train

Bullet trains, referred to as Shinkansen in Japan, is a high-speed train operated by the Japan Railway Group. The original Shinkansen is known for its round bullet like face and white body with a blue stripe in the body.

The Tokaido Shinkansen, the most used bullet train in Japan, was first opened in October, of 1964 just in time for the Tokyo Olympics. Before the existence of the Shinkansen, it took 6 hours and 40 minutes to travel from Osaka to Tokyo but Shinkansen has shortened the time to 4 hours. It might sound like, "So what? The time was only shortened two hours", but at that time that meant a lot.

There are 5 main Shinkansen lines:
Tokaido Shinkansen
From Tokyo to Shin-Osaka, it is operated by JR Central, costs around 14,000 yen one way and takes about 156 minutes (2hours and 36 minutes) to get from Tokyo to Shin-Osaka.
Sanyo Shinkansen
From Shin-Osaka to Hakata, operated by JR West, costs around 14,890 yen, and takes about 148 minutes (2 hours and 28 minutes) to get from Shin-Osaka to Hakata.
Tohoku Shinkansen
From Tokyo to Hachinohe, operated by JR East, costs around 15,350 yen and takes about 189 minutes (3 hours and 9 minutes) from Tokyo to Hachinohe.
Joetsu Shinkansen
From Omiya to Niigata, operated by JR East, costs around 9,860 yen and takes about 99 minutes (1hour and 39 minutes) from Omiya to Niigata.
Nagano Shinkansen
From Takasaki to Nagano, it is operated by JR East, costs around 4,920 yen one way. The train takes about 47 minutes to Nagano from Takasaki.

Taking an airplane has become the most simple and usual way of transportation, but riding a Shinkansen and enjoying the scenery outside your window is another way to go too. Save the world by riding the green way, Shinkansen, and enjoy the seasonal scenery of Japan!

1 comment:

gate valves said...

what a mean looking train!

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