Japan loves trains

Yep, they really do, and wouldn't you if you'd given the world Shinkansen, and had such an extensive and efficient network as they do here.

Its been a real pleasure to use the railway network in and around Tokyo and further afield.  Even the ticketing system just seems to make more sense - there is a flat rate from A to B no matter where that is in the country, you then add on extra money to get from A to B quicker - an express train will add so much, a super-express a bit more, and for long distances, you simply pay an extra charge and you can ride Shinkansen (even Shinkansen has different grades of express!).

Mind you, this beautiful example near to Tokyo station wouldn't quite reach the speeds of the Shinkansen.

Of course, the first train you are likely see will be the Narita Express (NEX).  It's a real brute of a train with a blunt, pug-nosed kind of look and a raised driving compartment.  I think it looks brilliant.

Picture from Wikimedia

A major difference between the way the trains run here to other places I've visited, almost all lines are named and the trains carry those names too.  Often the names will reflect the places or regions the lines visit, but sometimes they are a little more fanciful.

Take this for example:  fast, blue, perhaps it goes around saving poor trapped animals?

What a great name for a train!

This next train displays some fantastic Jap-english.  "Kyushu Railway Company 885.  The Kyushu Limited Express.  Around the Kyushu since 2000".

Check out the floor to ceiling window on the left in the picture below, I bet it gives quite a fun view.

That's another thing, you'll always see the same model of train running the same route, and they are all painted differing colours so they are nice and easy to identify at a distance.

Shinkansen

Of course, no post about the trains of Japan would be complete without the famous Shinkansen.  I got to ride one all the way from Tokyo to Kyushu and it was awesome.

The new model 700 just looks fast with its duck-bill like nose and sweeping lines.

When we arrived in Kyushu I also spotted this poster.  I can only guess its 40 years since Shinkansen reached Kyushu, because its been running in Japan since 1964 making it over 50 years old.  It does demonstrate fantastically how the design of the Shinkansen has evolved over those 50 years.

Have you ever been on a train and the only seats that you can find are facing backwards?  I know this is something that often bothers people, especially those who get travel sick.  I was surprised that all the seats in the Shinkansen always seemed to be facing the direction of travel.  Its not like the trains can be rotated easily, and with a train leaving Tokyo station every 3 minutes it was a bit of a mystery till I saw this:

That's right, every set of seats can rotate individually so that they are always facing the correct direction.  You can see just how quickly the staff go about these changes.  Apparently on average it takes only 7 minutes from a Shinkansen arriving to it being ready to leave again, and that includes cleaning up all the rubbish, rotating every seat, and replacing all the headrest covers.  Its a slick operation thats for sure.



As a final note, I'll just pop this guy in, who I affectionately named the stealth train.  Somehow it just reminds me of the Transformer: Blast Off from my childhood.