Yesterday we took the Shinkansen (bullet train) from Osaka to Tokyo. It was our first proper view of some of the Japanese countryside as the day trips we had taken until then were all through fairly populated areas. Having said that, the trip to Tokyo was through quite populated areas as well but there were glimpses here and there of some rice paddies, mountains (Sterling’s first glimpse of snow) and the ocean. However all of that is interspersed by many, many houses of varying sizes and states of repair/disrepair. There were some snippets of quite pretty Japanese-style homes that look fairly large but they don’t last for long. It’s logical to assume that the train line runs past the less affluent areas so that likely affects the scenery. Unfortunately the views just weren’t all that interesting, everything looked a little run down and the number of factories and industrial areas we went past was significant. All of it is overlooked by mountain ranges too steep to populate but it just looks…crowded.
Nevertheless here are some videos and photos I took from the train, both to give an idea of how fast the Shinkansen travel (up to about 320 km/h on the fastest trains, ours was about 285 km/h).
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