Well, work has been a bit crazy, so I've only just now had some time to think about blogging again. Lots has happened this month, but first I should finish off the Nagoya chronicle. Actually I'm skipping a bit - Satoko and I visited the 2005 World Expo in Aichi (near Nagoya), but it was a quick visit, and the place was so busy that we didn't see much and there's not a lot to say. We did have an exceptionally smooth ride out there on the maglev train Linimo, though. Which brings me to the topic of getting to (and from) Nagoya in the first place.
Selection of the mode of transport was a tradeoff: either an overnight cheapy on a bus, or an hour and a bit on the shinkansen (literal translation: new trunk line) for about NZ$300 each return. We chose the latter in order to squeeze in what little sightseeing we could.
Having already ridden Eurostar (300km/h, European side) and TGV (270km/h, France) this trip (270km/h) was no landspeed record for me, but it was interesting to see what high-speed Japanese trains offer in terms of comfort etc. Our train was a 700 series (pictured above) - actually slower than the older 500 series!
The interior was very clean and comfortable - similar but superior to flying by plane. In an almost cinematic gesture, the beautiful, uh, "ride-attendants" bow as they enter or leave the cars through silent, automatic doors. In fact the whole experience was very much like air travel without all the hassles and danger. As evidenced by the horrific crash in Osaka recently, a reasonable percentage of occupants survive catastrophic failure of a train compared to those in a plane.
I'm a bit worried that Satoko and I are becoming densha-otaku (train geeks/trainspotters). We recently made a completely unnecessary transfer on my line just to take a ride in the shiny new train we'd seen operating outside my "local" zone. Then a few weeks ago Satoko rebooked the return portion of a trip we made - for the sole purpose of taking a spin in one of the new express trains on that line! Photos to come ...
