Choo, choo!

So how did those 20 American educators get down South to Himeji? Via Bullet Train! We were excited to experience this form of transportation. Japan was the first country to commit to building a high speed rail system. The previous rail system went around the mountains and other obstacles while the Shinkansen goes through them.

The Tokaido Shinkansen line runs from Tokyo through Osaka, Kobe, Himeji, and then continued on to Hiroshima, with its final distination of Fukuota. The Tokaido line was started in 1959 and completed just in time for the Tokyo Olympics in 1964. The average speed of the train is 187 miles per hour with the top speed being 277 mph. You could not tell it was going that fast and the stops were not harsh either. We had one minute to disembark the train at Himeji. One of our colleagues actually met one of her former students at the Osaka station to say a quick "Hello" and I do mean quick.

The train was very clean and comfortable. We traveled a total of 400 miles in 3 hours. You do the math, How fast were we traveling?

Here is a corny photostory for you-