Shikansens (Bullet) Trains

---

Time to start using our JR passes so we zoomed up Honshu Island and over to Hokkaido. Our first experience of the Shikansen. Just amazing.
It is essentially flat all the way. Where there are plains they have elevated track to avoid any crossings and where there are mountains there are tunnels. The Japanese must be the biggest burrowers in the world. Nothing gets in the way. So that a journey of 700 km takes just 3 hours. Much better than planes and right to the centre of town. The ordinary express trains are pretty good too. Puts our trains to shame. And of course extremely punctual. The train to Hokkaido goes through the longest under water tunnel in the world (just marginally longer than the English French chunnel).

---