I love the Shinkansen (Bullet Train)!

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I love the Shinkansen! It is very spacious , even for Japan.

I am considering taking worthless trips on it, just because it is so plush and it is the only real rest I get during this vacation.

I guess I'm speaking froma bad perspective, because to most other people, it is very expensive. As a foreigner, you can purchase a "Japan Rail Pass" (as I did, $390 for 14 days), which gives you unlimited travel on Japan Railways. Japan Railways owns major commuter lines in every major city, AND the Shinkansen.

The catch? You can't take the brand new, even faster, Nozomi line. But the Hikari is not sluggish at all and that is what I have been taking between Tokyo and the Kansai region. I would have gone up north, but it is too damn cold. Snow up north has actually created delays and therefore headline news.

All trains in this country are on time, to the minute. I set my watch to it. Every country should have a train system this efficient.

Don't forget, it is VERY VERY fast, quiet, and smooth. It really makes travel a breeze and an enjoyable experience. All you do is reserve a seat (or choose a non-reserved seat) and get on the train when it arrives. So the whole unnecccesarily arduous process that normally accompanies a plane flight, and the frustrating experience that flying ends up becoming, is eliminated. When you can jump on platform and be wisked away at 200 MPH, the country becomes a whole lot smaller. Makes Amtrack look like shite. As if Amtrack needed any help looking like a bad travel option. But honestly, train travel this way isn't that much slower than an airplane when you consider the added hours and hair-pulling that comes with a short flight.

So fast, in fact, that I don't have the web-authoring time I thought I would. That is why you don't see the glut of content I promised. Sorry! I'm trying!

At night it's dreamy too: