top: shinkansen passes by mt fuji
bottom: a shinkansen lineup in tokyo
if you’re thinking of going to japan, do not leave home without a japanrail (jr) pass. passes come in 7, 14 and 21 day versions, and provide the holder with unlimited rail travel on the entire japan rail network. passes are only available outside of japan, and only for non japanese nationals. i love travel by rail, and japan seems to have perfected the science, making it a smooth and exciting exprience. schedules are flawlessly synchronized, on time, and well organized. navigating some of the train stations, however, like tokyo station, can be more than overwhelming for the uninitiated – allow some time when you get to the train station to find your platform. top on my train list, is riding the shinkansen, otherwise referred to as the bullet train. it may not be the fastest train in the world, but the entire rail network is the most sophisticated in the world. and if you are a train junkie like me, you will get hooked on the shinkansen, especially the fastest one, the nozomi. on one of my trips, i bought a 7 day pass, and got more than my money’s worth – i went north to hot springs in akita, then back down to osaka and kyoto, then back to tokyo. you’ll get hooked on the entire experience: fast dining in the train station, the bells and seeming chaos, the speed, the buzz.
for more on jr passes: http://www.japanrail.com/JR_japanrailpass.html
for more on shinkanse: http://www.japanrail.com/JR_shinkansen.html
Thursday 22 October 2009 at 1.58 am |
[...] from Ueno, not too soon, after our usual breakfast of bread, jam and fruit juice. Using first Shinkansen train to Utsunomiya and a then a very old but, as usual, very clean (the JR Nikko Line) train, we reached [...]