View from Shikansen

Shikansens (Bullet) Trains

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October 21st 2008
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 journ ... read more

Asia » Japan

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In 1603, a Tokugawa shogunate (military dictatorship) ushered in a long period of isolation from foreign influence in order to secure its power. For 250 years this policy enabled Japan to enjoy stability and a flowering of its indigenous culture. Fol... ... read more