{"id":98,"date":"2013-01-01T17:23:04","date_gmt":"2013-01-01T08:23:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wordpress.brockshetley.com\/?p=98"},"modified":"2013-01-01T17:33:48","modified_gmt":"2013-01-01T08:33:48","slug":"shinkansen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wordpress.brockshetley.com\/?p=98","title":{"rendered":"Shinkansen"},"content":{"rendered":"

There really is not a better way to start off a new year than by walking to a JR station, taking a Rapid\u00a0Express\u00a0line to Tokyo Station, buying a ticket to Kyoto and then boarding one of the most heavily used trains in the world. That’s\u00a0exactly\u00a0how my 2013 started off, and I could not be happier.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0Shinkansen\u00a0experience\u00a0was all I expected it to be. Fast, comfortable, relaxing! Train travel, at least in this scenario, is by far\u00a0superior\u00a0to\u00a0traveling\u00a0by plane. There are no cramped seats, no\u00a0obnoxious\u00a0seat belt lights, and no worry of a de-pressurization\u00a0of the cabin\u00a0causing\u00a0mass hysteria as people scramble to put on oxygen masks (while making sure they put their own on FIRST before assisting others). All of that is removed. Of course traveling by plane is still the\u00a0safest mode of\u00a0transportation, but Japan is doing alright by not having a single casualty due to train error in the 49 year\u00a0history\u00a0of this Shinkansen line.<\/p>\n

I have attached a few photos of the train we rode below. All of the trains that travel this route (T\u014dkaid\u014d) are the same model. We rode on a N700 which has the specifications of:<\/p>\n