Getting around Japan by public transportation is a joy. We made use of several modes of transport.
...to commuter trains...
The "bullet trains" were fun. They look fast and they are fast. The train from Tokyo to Kyoto takes 2 hours and 11 minutes to go 286 miles, averaging 131 miles an hour. By comparison, the high-speed Acela from Boston to New York takes 3 hours and 29 minutes to go 215 miles averaging 62 miles an hour. (The two trains have a similar number of stops.) The peak speed I saw was:
At no point did it feel fast: it was smooth and comfortable. But looking out the window, it was a different story:
Here's what was outside the train window (at 1/4000th of a second):
But here's what our eyes saw. Really.
The Shinkansen was fun.
Next we took a gondola to the top of the mountain pass...
...a bus down to a lake...
...and then a ferry across the lake...
...Whoops! That's not our ferry! We'll have to run to catch the sightseeing boat that crosses the lake:
Really. That's a pirate ship that goes back and forth across the lake.
Planes
Planes are planes. I like them. We flew the Boeing 787 Dreamliner to Japan. Its design (as an aircraft) is revolutionary but for a passenger, it wasn't particularly different from any other wide-body plane. |
| JAL Flight 7, Boston to Tokyo |
Trains
Trains are frequent and reliable. When your train is scheduled to depart a platform at 8:47, the train that comes at 8:45 is not the train you want.
We took all kinds of trains, from subway trains...
We took all kinds of trains, from subway trains...
...to elevated trams...
...to commuter trains...
 |
| The "Romance Train" |
...to electric, narrow-gauge mountain trains...
...to the high-speed "bullet" trains, the Shinkansen.
 |
| 163 miles per hour |
Here's what was outside the train window (at 1/4000th of a second):
But here's what our eyes saw. Really.
The Shinkansen was fun.
Getting to Hakone
From Kyoto to Hakone (a resort in the mountains near Mt. Fuji) we rode the Shinkansen (bullet train), a regular diesel train, then an electric train into the mountains, switching back and forth a couple of times. Then we took a cable car (or a funicular) up a particularly steep grade (notice the cable in the middle of the track pulling the car up the mountain):
Next we took a gondola to the top of the mountain pass...
...a bus down to a lake...
...Whoops! That's not our ferry! We'll have to run to catch the sightseeing boat that crosses the lake:
Hakone
And finally, we reached our destination, Hakone, where we could see: |
| Mt. Fuji |
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