Today I finally got my train tickets for my trip back to the States--window seat, non smoking on the Nozomi bullet train, which is the fastest one. It's kinda crazy when I think about it; I have to go cross-country just to catch a plane. Only in Japan, eh?
See, my international flight leaves from Narita Airport, which is WAY over on the East coast in Chiba prefecture, some distance beyond Tokyo, so I'll need to take the bullet train to get there. I could fly out there from Nagoya, but the train is a bit cheaper. Plus, I'll finally get to see Tokyo, as I have to transfer there to catch the express train to the airport.
The whole trip should take roughly 3 hours, which is pretty fast. It cost a pretty yen too, over $100 US--one way. I was surprised at how easy buying the ticket was; I used an automated touch-screen vendor, and it actually had an English option, which made things pretty easy. I could've bought my ticket the day of travel, but usually, the trains are packed and people have to stand up for about 2 hours or so as they travel.
It looks like sometime in the near future, they're gonna start using the maglev (magnetically levitated) trains. Just last week, I read the maglev train set a new world record for the top speed for a train: that bad boy clocked 361 mph in a test run. Dang.
I figure, they can save some money building those things and not even bother putting in windows, because at that speed you won't be seeing anything but streaks of color whizzing by! That's like flying on the ground, forreal.
Anyhow, I'm looking forward to my train ride eastward, at a modest 180mph!
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