I moved from Tokyo city to Oyama this week. Two hours away from Tokyo, Oyama is a little and a peaceful town. Our interpreter yesterday suggested that Nikko is a place I should visit for a weekend day trip, as it is not far from the place where I stay in Oyama.
I had to change two trains. First one from Oyama to Tsunomiya in a Shinkansen Train ( magnetic train, runs at around 200 kph ) and a local train from Tsunomiya to Nikko. A town with lot of history & gifted natural beauty.
It’s such heart warming to find the Japanese being so eager to help foreign visitors.
Avik...
2 years ago
Ahh… Nikko… Beautiful place. Don’t miss Kamakura. Lots of old temples and the Great Buddha (daibtsu) statue. And a small mistake (which i had to point out).
Shinkansen (commonly known as Bullet train outside Japan) is not a magnetic train. MagLev in Japan is still in experimental state. Shinkansen is your standard overhead electric train, of course with much higher power and lots and lots of technical features to make it safe and efficient. Also the lines are always as straight as possible, going through mountains and going over other lines (can’t turn in high speed). The current top speed is 320 kmph!!
Ultimately MagLev will come. Not that current technology can’t go in higher speeds. The problem is noise pollution!!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shinkansen
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-speed_rail#Technology
A T M
2 years ago
ooops. Why dint I look it up in Wiki. Since they travel so much faster than regular trains, I thought they must possess some special superior ‘magnetic’ power. So, these are electric trains and not magnetic. Thanks correcting.
I had been to Kamakura. Now I am bored of visiting shrines around.