Fast Train

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FUJIFILM X-Pro2 (23mm, f/2, 1/100 sec, ISO1000)

Since I moved to the country side I don’t ride trains a lot anymore. Where I live you need a car to get around. There is one exception though. When I’m in Japan I always take the train.

And I look forward to it. I fly a lot but I don’t look forward to get on a plane and to sit there for a couple of hours. But when you fly its not only the plane, the whole experience leaves a lot to be desired. Check in, security, bad but expensive food. No such thing here. You just get on board.

In my case I entered the train in Shin Tokyo, the head station of the Nozomi express train that will bring me to Osaka in less than 2 hours and 22 minutes. Not bad for 515km. And you can tell that this is a seriously fast train simply by its looks.

FUJIFILM X-Pro2 (23mm, f/5.6, 1/200 sec, ISO200)
 FUJIFILM X-Pro2 (23mm, f/5.6, 1/110 sec, ISO200)

But Tokyo is a head station and so the Shinkansen gets a quick cleaning and check up before it gets back to Osaka. The Ladies dressed in pink is the cleaning brigade and the gentlemen dressed in blue are maintenance I guess.

Air traffic is safe. Even though there were two horrible crashes of the new Boeing models within a couple of months. I think the planes of this type are still grounded world wide. To get on a plane is still one of the safest methods to travel.

But planes are as safe a ride in an Indian taxi compared to the Shinkansen. Those trains are in operation since the 60s and there was not a single fatality. And it’s not that they are riding every now and then, they go every 10 minutes!

FUJIFILM X-Pro2 (23mm, f/5.6, 1/100 sec, ISO250)
 FUJIFILM X-Pro2 (23mm, f/5.6, 1/100 sec, ISO320)

But in Japan even a taxi ride feels safer than elsewhere in the world. I never had a driver to hit the brakes hard except the one in the image below. I remember it so well because it is so rare and also because it just happened a week ago.

So I’m back from Japan and busy to listen to my upgraded stereo. Thank you Furutech!

FUJIFILM X-Pro2 (23mm, f/2, 1/1400 sec, ISO200)