shinkansen

200-mph red bullet trains thrill rail-mad Japan

TOKYO--The crowd lining the end of Tokyo Station's platform 22 is four people deep.

They're jostling for position with their cameras -- trainspotters, parents, and children alike -- to get a shot of Japan's latest bullet train: the Series E6 Shinkansen, known as the Super Komachi.

They all bought tickets for the privilege of entering this part of the sprawling terminal that serves 380,000 passengers daily, and operator JR East has to deploy extra security guards to keep them a safe distance from the glistening new locomotive.

With services to northern Japan on the Akita Shinkansen Line, the Super Komachi debuted earlier this month as one of Japan's fastest commercial trains.

It has been traveling at 300 kph (186 mph) and will eventually run at 320 kph (198.8 mph), also the new operational speed of the Series E5 Hayabusa, among the world's fastest along with France's TGV. … Read more

Like bookmobiles? Try Japan's bullet train library

If you're a kid growing up in Japan, chances are you dig comic books and trains. In the western Tokyo city of Akishima, you can indulge in both by reading manga in a vintage bullet train that's now a kids' library.

The converted 0 series Shinkansen has been drawing kids to the Akishima Library since 1992. Little tykes can kick back on the carriage's 25 seats and read from a collection of some 10,000 books.

As seen in the video below, kids can also play engineer in the train driver's compartment. The library is popular … Read more

Japan's main 'bullet train' route to introduce Wi-Fi

The key railway artery in Japan, the Shinkansen or "bullet train" line between Tokyo and Osaka, will introduce Wi-Fi by March 2009, Japan Railways announced.

These trains are already incredibly comfortable, primarily because they are clean and quiet, and they usually deliver you to a key central location in each city. Another perk is the on-platform food vendors who sell totally passable box lunches, sometimes including sushi, without much of a mark-up.

The main drawback to these trains is they're not cheap. And while the JR announcement (in Japanese) doesn't mention whether there will be a … Read more

A bullet train for your mobile phone

We've never quite understood the concept of phone straps, much less some of the odd trinkets often attached to them. (Well, perhaps there are one or two exceptions.)

But the "Super Shinkansen Bullet Train" could change our minds about the whole trend. It must have something to do with our first ride on them, a childhood rail trip that was the closest we've ever gotten to one of those human centrifuge machines that makes your head feel like exploding.

We wouldn't advise spinning your phone around lariat-style to get that kind of rush. But, as … Read more