Osaka - On a Bullet

Riding the Shinkasen
It looked to me like a white rocket laying on its side.  The Shinkansen took us from Tokyo to Osaka, over 540 kilometers, in just under three hrs.  In no time, Tokyo's cement maze was a blur and we soon whirred along the coastline, through tunnels, past rice paddies and tight rows of tea bushes.  Mt Fuji popped up on the right and disappeared just as quickly.  Nearby buildings leaned into us at strange angles but it was the train banking, centrifugal force kept in check so smoothly that it created the optical illusion.  It's a quiet, easy speed that impresses - I couldn't take my eyes off the passing landscape.

Our route was south to Yokohama, then west to Shizuoka, Nagoya, Kyoto and finally Osaka.

Inside the bullet, you felt like you were on a plane, without the noise.  Wide three by three seating, ladies passing up and down the aisle selling food and drink.

I got an Asahi to accompany my "rice box", which I bought prior to boarding.  It's a perfectly made balsa wood box filled with rice, ground pork, vegetables and pickles.