On 1 October 1964, a railway line like no other opened. Connecting Tôkyô and Ôsaka, paralleling an existing main line, the Tôkaidô New Trunk Line had minimal curves, lots of bridges, zero level crossings. Striking white and blue electric multiple units, with noses shaped like bullets some would say, started zooming between the two cities as at the unheard-of speed of 210 km/h.
This was the start of the Shinkansen, inaugurating the age of high-speed rail.
The trains, with noses actually inspired by the aircraft of the time, originally didn't have a name, they were just "Shinkansen trains", as they couldn't mingle with other types anyway due to the difference in gauge between the Shinkansen (standard gauge, 1435 mm between rails) and the rest of the network (3'6" gauge, or 1067 mm between rails). The class would officially become the "0 Series" when new trains appeared in the 1980s, first the very similar 200 Series for the second new line, the Tôhoku Shinkansen, then the jet-age 100 Series. Yes, the 200 came first, as it was decided that trains heading North-East from Tôkyô would be given even first numbers, and trains heading West would have odd first numbers (0 is even, but never mind).
Hence the next new type to appear on the Tôkaidô Shinkansen was the 300 Series (second from left), designed by the privatised JR Tôkai to overcome some shortcomings of the line. Indeed, the curves on the Tôkaidô were still too pronounced to allow speeds to be increased, while all other new lines had been built ready for 300 km/h operations. But a revolution in train design allowed speeds to be raised from 220 km/h in the 80s to 285 km/h today, with lightweight construction (on the 300), active suspension (introduced on the 700 Series, left) and slight tilting (standard on the current N700 types).
Examples of five generations of train used on the Tôkaidô Shinkansen are preserved at JR Tôkai's museum, the SCMaglev & Railway Park, in Nagoya, with the N700 prototype lead car outdoors. It's striking to see how far high-speed train technology has come in Japan in 60 years. The network itself covers the country almost end-to-end, with a nearly continuous line from Kyûshû to Hokkaidô along the Pacific coast (no through trains at Tôkyô), and four branch lines inland and to the North coast, one of which recently got extended.
I'm just trying my best okay I am just learning how to cook it is not my fault that I am so embarrassingly bad at it that I think I'm actually somehow good at it
Temples on the high street: Kyôto Teramachi and Shinkyôgoku
A typical Japanese covered high street, right? Yes, there are lots of shops left and right, but this is Kyôto, a millennial capital and centre of cultural and religious tradition in Japan. So what happens when a modern high street encounters a centuries-old temple, bearing in mind that it would be very bad form to ask the priests to sell up?
Well you leave the temple alone and build around it. So, in between the big name drugstores, Animate, clothes shops and cafés lined with the street's signature bricks and tile floor, here's the entrance to Seishin-in, with traditional wooden doors and tile roofing. It is also just visible in the first picture - see if you can notice it.
Seigan-ji is easier to spot, further illustrating the contrast. Online maps show that this temple even has a cemetery in the middle of the next block, completely encircled by shopping streets and businesses.
It's a similar situation for Tenshô-ji, though, this far up the high street, the commercial tissue becomes less dense. These temples seem a bit larger and own more land. Still, we've gone from a towering, mineral, covered street in the top photo, to an open path with low buildings and plenty of vegetation, with no transition.
These scenes of coexistence fascinated me when I first visited Kyôto in 2016, with a hotel in this area, so it was great to see them again on my brief return to the city in 2023. More fascinating still is the fact that one of these "just off the high street" temples is not only very old, but hugely historically significant... and I'm yet to mention it!
We're back on the rails for a trip along the Yosan line, Shikoku's main route between Takamatsu and Matsuyama cities. As if the similar names of the termini weren't enough, they should have called it the Takamatsuyama line for extra confusion! Anyway, grab some sanuki udon to fuel up, and we'll be off. I've already posted about the most interesting trains that run on the line, so we'll be focusing on looking through the window, making a few stops for some interesting things near the stations.
Takamatsu (0 km) is a port city on the spectacular Seto Inland Sea. The former castle, with moats, stone walls and a few turrets still standing, is a couple of hundred metres from the station, close enough to feature.
While the main keep is long gone, the grounds offer a nice park to stroll through. The best park in Takamatsu is undoubtedly Ritsurin, but it's not on the Yosan line, so it's a post for another time.
Sakaide (21 km) is the last station before the Seto Ôhashi line branches off, headed for the main island of Honshû and Okayama city. Hourly rapid Marine Liner services do the heavy lifting on the cross-channel route from Takamatsu. The above video (not my recording - I do have one from Imabari, but it's not this good) allows us to hear the "train incoming" melody used in stations where Seto trains stop. The tune is based on an award-winning 1972 song by Koyanagi Rumiko, Seto no Hanayome ("bride of Seto"), which tells of a woman going to Shikoku to get married, and, having noticed it, it's going to be なつかしい for me, a warm reminder of my time in Shikoku.
Utazu (26 km) is on the other side of the junction, and is where the Ishizuchi express services for Matsuyama join with the Shiokaze from the mainland. This shot is technically off the Yosan line, on a train to Okayama, but it gives us one of the better views of the long road & rail bridges.
Just outside the station at Marugame (28.5 km) is a statue of a dog. This is a memorial to Kinako, a labrador that lived from 2002 to 2017. Trained to become a police dog, she was only in service for 2 and a half years, because it took her 7 attempts to pass the exams! Her underdog (sorry) story was followed by the media for a while, and adapted into a film, so she was a bit of a local celebrity.
Hello Kitty Shinkansen. Yes it's real, and it's a lot of fun.
A year ago, I planned a trip between Hiroshima and Kokura on what I feel is the wackiest train concept imaginable. Take the 500 Series Shinkansen, an absolute rocketship (and IMO the best train ever) and wrap it in pink. That didn't sound too appealing to me when I first heard of the project, but I've got to say, the livery is a banger, and turned a lot of heads at every station we stopped at!
The train remains on a regularly-scheduled service, a return trip between Hakata, Fukuoka on Kyûshû, and Shin-Ôsaka as an all-stop Kodama, so it's a normal train... save for two cars. Car 1 is basically a shop, while car 2 is the Kawaii! Room, a seating car in full Kitty mode!
The front of car 2 also has a space to pose with Kitty-chan. As a collab, the Hello Kitty Shinkansen takes the opportunity to showcase the prefectures JR West serves, with Kitties on the map promoting each area's special feature, such as "the great lake" in Shimane (Shinji-ko), "we love this pear!" for Tottori (though Kitty seems to be holding an apple?), takoyaki for Ôsaka, and Hyôgo is "proud of Bread" (any thoughts on that @todayintokyo?). These 8 local characters are repeated on each of the 8 cars outside.
While I'm not a fan or particularly knowledgeable about Hello Kitty, I thoroughly enjoyed riding this train. It's over the top with Easter eggs everywhere, down to the jingles! (not my recording)
@shoku-and-awe made a great post on the rabbit statues at Izumo Taisha and why they're there, so I'll only add that they are all over the shrine's grounds, and as far as East as the Ancient Izumo History Museum.
In the gardens, the rabbits are depicted doing all kinds of things: reading a book, taking pictures, birdwatching... Yes, all that!
And of course, there are a lot of rabbits facing the shrine buildings and praying.
The plaque behind these two recognises Senge Takamasa and Kunimaro, father and son, current and presumed future chief priest of Izumo Taisha. Tracing their origins back to the rulers of the Izumo province way back in the Nara period (Takamasa is the 84th head of the clan), the aristocratic-priestly Senge family has very much stayed in high society to this day, from being involved in politics and governor of Tokyo around 1900 (the shrine had been taken out of their control following the Meiji revolution and the abolition of the nobility), to Kunimaro marrying an Imperial princess (who no longer holds the title as per the rules) in 2014.
The only train to Izumo Taisha is operated by private company Ichibata Dentetsu, or Bataden. Twas not always thus, as the JNR had a short 7 km branch line from Izumo-shi to Taisha until 1990. It was served by direct expresses from Nagoya and Kanazawa (11-hour day express Taisha) and night expresses from Ôsaka (Daisen).
But Bataden is no upstart, they've been around for a long time. They've been connecting Matsue Shinjiko-Onsen, Dentetsu Izumo-shi (neighbour to JR Izumo-shi) to Izumo Taisha-mae since the 1920s. On of their trains of the time was the DeHaNi 50, left in its refurbished DeHa 50 form. On the right is the 7000 Series, the company's newest model... and their first new train since the DeHaNi 50!
In the 90-year interim, Ichibata has relied on second-hand trains (yes, that's a thing in Japan), mostly from Tokyo-based Keiô. A rather nice retreat for these vehicles, from the crowded suburban lines around the capital, to scenic moseys around Lake Shinji... There are some special liveries and trains, such as Shimane-no-ki below, with some nice wooden decking inside, and single-seat semi-compartments! "Wait, is this First class?", I remember thinking to myself.
