The new bullet train operating between Shanghai and Beijing has broken the speed record for a passenger service by traveling at 350 kilometers per hour (kph).
The Beijing-Shanghai high-speed railway once again became the world’s fastest train after it being limited to 300 kph six years age, reports China Daily.
The train called Fuxing, or rejuvenation in Chinese, offers features such as power outlets, USB ports, and free WiFi.
“These trains are so popular that the tickets for today’s services sold out a week ago,” Huang Xin, an official with China Railway Corporation (CR), said Thursday.
The railway connecting the Chinese capital in the north with the major business hub in the south sees about 100 million passengers a year.
The new train completes the 1,200-kilometer journey in just under four-and-a-half hours. The previous generation of trains did it in six hours.
“The Beijing-Shanghai high-speed railway was built to the world’s highest standards, and the Fuxing trains were designed to run at a maximum speed of 350 kph. Operating the Fuxing on this route at a speed of 350 kph is without question in terms of safety, reliability, and comfort,” said Lu Dongfu, CR general manager.
China has sold its high-speed trains to Indonesia, Russia, Iran, and India, according to the daily.
Developers claim the Fuxing trains can be used in extreme climates, making them more competitive on the global market.
What are the top 10 experiences not to miss in Japan? This amazing country offers so much to see and do, it’s hard to know exactly what’s not to be missed.
Luckily, our local travel experts have insider knowledge of the country’s top attractions, so we’ve compiled an infographic of 10 experiences in Japan you definitely shouldn’t miss.
Whether you like picturesque mountain towns, shopping for gadgets or delving into the history of the geisha, there is an unmissable experience in Japan just for you.
10 Not-to-Miss Japan Experiences
More details about our 10 not-to-miss Japan experiences
Experience #1 – Ride bullet train
Make sure you the have original high-speed bullet train experience with a ride on the Shinkansen. These super efficient, super-fast trains are definitely not your average commute. Whiz through the picturesque Japanese countryside at 320 km/h.
Experience#2 – Drink in the views of Takayama
Get your camera ready for this one – Takayama is an unbelievably pretty mountain village of Edo-period merchants’ houses dating back to the 1600s. Located in the ‘Japanese Alps’, this little town is a must-see for its sheer scenic beauty.
Experience#3 – Stay in a ryokan and dip into an onsen
A ryokan is a traditional Japanese inn, where you can stay in a private tatami mat rooms and sleep on a futon. A key feature of the ryokan is the hot spring bath – the onsen. Relax in the style of Japanese wayfarers immemorial.
Experience #4 – See history in Kyoto’s incredible array of UNESCO World Heritage Sites
Kyoto is Japan’s former imperial capital, so it stands to reason that there’s much history to be found. In UNESCO terms, it is home to 17 World Heritage Sites, which is more than anywhere else on the planet. See Japan’s spiritual and cultural heritage in its ancient castles, temples and shrines.
Experience#5 – Visit an icon – Miyajima Island and the red torii gate
You’ve seen it in movies or online, but it’s much better in real life – Miyajima’s Itsukushima Shrine is the iconic ‘floating’ torii (‘gate’ in Japanese). Torii are all over Japan, but here are none as famous as this one.
Experience#6 – See a geisha performance
Trained in classical music, dance, games and more, the modern geisha performance is a rare, one-of-a-kind experience. No cultural Japanese trip is complete without taking in an authentic geisha performance.
Experience#7 – Go, go, gadgets in Akihabara, Tokyo
Imagine store after store jammed to the rafters with gadgets – cameras, phones, games, computers, robots, drones – that’s Akihabara. Affectionately known in Tokyo as Akiba, this neighborhood is home to a mind-boggling array of electronics. Also home to anime and manga shops and some eye-catching cosplay cafés.
Experience#8 – Discover ancient Kamakura
Kamakura was Japan’s capital from 1192 to 1333, and today this scenic seaside city provides a the best glimpse you could ask for at the country’s feudal past. Mountains, beaches, shrines, temples, forests – Kamakura is a resort town with historic clout.
Experience#9 – Taste Tokyo
Hot, steaming bowls of ramen, spicy katsu curry, Michelin-starred sushi, BBQ meat on a skewer from your local izakaya – sampling all the must-eat food on offer in Tokyo is enough to keep you busy for a whole trip.
Experience#10 – Learn the ‘Way of Tea’
If you’re interested in Japanese culture, this must-have experience highlights not only the importance of the brew in Japanese culture but teaches you the concept of wabi-sabi, the beauty of impermanence/imperfection.
3 insider recommendations
#1 – Explore the arts
Get into the eclectic array of arts Japan offers. Sumo wrestling, sake tasting, contemporary art, antiques, Japanese calligraphy, zen gardens, even Buddhist meditation – dive into hands-on cultural experiences to give yourself a uniquely memorable time in Japan.
#2 – Robot Restaurant
If you’ve always wanted to say domo arigato, Mr Roboto, here’s your chance. Shinjuku in Tokyo is home to the Robot Restaurant where you can have a truly a once-in-a-lifetime experience watching robots battling it out on stage and bikini-clad hype dancers cheering them on. Is it touristy? Yes, but it’s fantastic fun!
#3 – Draw Manga
Manga is one of Japan’s most popular modern exports and you can learn how to draw in this distinctive style by joining a workshop – no previous experience required.
From its ancient capitals to its modern metropolises, Japan offers a new discovery around every bend. Armed with insider knowledge from our Travel Specialists, you can now create a custom holiday full of Japanese experiences not to be missed. If you feel inspired to plan a Japan trip, choose your ideal tour and contact Backyard Travel today!
Whizzing your way around Japan’s extensive train network on a JR Pass is the best way to explore the country. It’s super fast, convenient, and allows you take in all the gorgeous scenery on the way.
And that’s not to mention that riding the shinkansen (bullet-train) is all part of the quintessential Japanese experience!
So without further ado, here are seven things you need to know about a JR Pass.
Make sure you read until the end where you’ll also find out how you can win a spot on an awesome famil to the Land of the Rising Sun hosted by JNTO.
1. YOU NEED TO BUY YOUR EXCHANGE VOUCHER FOR THE JR PASS IN AUSTRALIA
Purchasing a JR Pass is not something you can do inside Japan – at least not for the time being.
You need to buy your exchange voucher for the JR Pass here in Australia, which you can then exchange for your actual JR Pass once you’re in Japan. This is because the JR Pass is only meant for travellers entering Japan as tourists, there for a temporary stay and passports will be checked upon exchange. Students and those on working visas are ineligible for the pass.
The voucher must be exchanged for a JR Pass within 90 days period following the date of issue.
2. THE JR PASS IS AVAILABLE IN TWO TYPES, ‘ORDINARY’ AND ‘GREEN’ CLASS
Green class is equivalent to first class and has a number of advantages over ordinary class. For example, green class cars feature personal reading lights, a power point to charge electronic devices, a footrest, 2 x 2 seat configuration (for a more spacious and less crowded experience), and bigger, better quality seats.
On selected services, green class occupants may also receive a hot hand towel (oshibori) and a hot or cold drink.
3. THE JR PASS ALLOWS YOU TO TRAVEL ON ALL JAPAN RAIL TRAINS, INCLUDING SHINKANSEN (BULLET-TRAINS)
It also entitles you to travel on the Hiroshima-Miyajima ferry.
But note: there are two bullet-train services that JR Pass holders cannot use: the Nozomi service (which has fewer stops on the run from Tokyo to Hakata down in Fukuoka) and the Mizuho service (a faster service from Shin-Osaka to Kagoshima-Chuo, a seaside city on Japan’s Kyushu Island).
However, there are alternative trains that JR Pass holders can take, even if it just means waiting a bit longer.
4. THE JR PASS IS FOR CONSECUTIVE DAYS ONLY
Unlike a European rail pass, where you can travel for a certain number of days within a defined period, a JR Pass is only valid for either 7, 14 or 21 consecutive days of travel. The consecutive days start from the day of first use.
That means you’ll get the most value out of the pass if you use it to explore as much of the country by rail as possible, without staying in one place for too long. Japan’s extensive shinkansen (bullet-train) network makes getting around the country is quicker than you think.
5. YOU CAN SPECIFY THE JR PASS START DATE WHEN EXCHANGING THE VOUCHER FOR THE PASS
You don’t have to validate your JR Pass as soon as you land in Japan.
When exchanging the voucher for the pass, tell the clerk when you want to start using it. If you want to spend a little extra time in a certain part of Japan, start your holiday there and don’t validate the JR Pass until it’s time to leave. Once your JR Pass is exhausted, you can also spend some extra time in your final destination before flying back home.
For example, if you have a client that’s travelling around Japan for 10 days, and is spending a few days in Tokyo before catching a shinkansen (bullet-train) down south to explore Kyoto, Osaka and the Seto Inland Sea region, including Hiroshima, sell them a 7 day JR Pass and advise them to activate it on the day they leave Tokyo. This ensures that the pass remains valid for the rest of their trip.
They can purchase cheap one-day passes for their 3 day stay in Tokyo.
6. YOU CAN RESERVE YOUR SEATS FREE OF CHARGE
Unless you’re travelling during peak holiday periods, you’ll usually find plenty of empty seats on limited express trains and shinkansen (bullet-trains) services. However, to be certain, it’s possible to reserve a seat on any service for free.
Simply take your JR Pass to a JR ticket office and specify which train you want to take. You’ll then be issued with a seat reservation ticket, which can be printed in English upon request.
7. A JR PASS IS THE ONLY PASS THAT COVERS ALL OF JAPAN
Although there are regional JR Passes, such as JR West, JR East and JR Hokkaido passes, the JR Pass is the only pass that allows its holders to travel right across the entire country.
Regional passes are great if you want to spend more time in a particular part of Japan. However, with so much to see and do in the Land of the Rising Sun, a Japan Rail Pass is always a sound investment for the busy traveller.
WIN A PLACE ON A JAPAN FAMIL
JNTO are giving twenty Travel Agents the chance to WIN a place on one of two famils to Japan later this year to explore the unique country first hand.
Both famils will see the Travel Agents explore both Tokyo and Kyoto with the first famil running between 16th – 22nd October, 2016 and the second famil running between 23rd – 29th October, 2016.
For your chance to be in the draw for a spot on either of these famils please visit https://elearning.jnto.org.au and complete the e-learning program.
When it comes to upgrading its train service, India goes
all out. Not only is the country prepping for its first high-speed
railway, but the new bullet train will also travel underwater. The Japan
International Cooperation Agency, who is funding the project, revealed
that 13 miles of the 315-mile route between Mumbai and Ahmedabad will
pass from Thane creek towards Virar, via a submerged corridor.
Traveling at a maximum speed of 217 mph, the whole trip is expected
to take about two hours. This is especially exciting considering fastest
running train between the two cities right now is the Duronto Express,
which takes seven hours.
The project, which is expected to begin by the end of 2018, is similar to the new Japanese bullet train (shinkansen) running from Tokyo to Hakodate, which makes use of the undersea Seikan Tunnel, reports the Japan Times.
Kanazawa’s 17th-century Kenrokuen gardens, one of the Three Great Gardens of Japan. Photograph: Dave Bartruff/CorbisWith its incredible food and sights, Kanazawa is a great add on to a tour of Japan – especially now you can get the bullet train from Tokyo • The best restaurants in Tokyo and Kyoto – chosen by Japan’s top chefs
A shinkansen bullet train on a test run glides in alongside us,slowing to a halt amid a symphony of mechanical exhalations. Beside me, Noriko Iwata of the local tourist board bristles with excitement. “The shinkansen is a very, very big thing for Kanazawa,” she says with a beaming smile. “When ticket sales opened for the first journey in March, they sold out within 25 seconds.”
The Japanese love anything new, of course, but this also shows their affection for “Little Kyoto”, as this city on the north coast of Honshu is known. Even before the new shinkansen line opened – slashing journey times from Tokyo by two hours to 2½ hours – domestic tourism had increased five-fold over the previous few months, such was the renewed interest in Kanazawa, and foreign tourists are expected to follow.
There’s no sign of Japan’s “ailing” economy here: the Hokuriku line cost 1.6 trillion yen (over £9 billion), and the pillars supporting the station roof are each ringed by a broad pelmet of gold leaf. “Every pillar uses 20,000 sheets of gold leaf,” Noriko tells me.
How many pillars are there in all? “Sixty.” That’s … an awful lot of gold.
While Tokyo and Kyoto are going to remain the top choices for first-time visitors toJapan, Kanazawa deserves to join second-tier destinations such as Sapporo, Nara, Osaka, Okinawa and Himeji. And with mountains, beaches and the rugged, rural Noto peninsula 30 minutes away, it works as a summer or winter destination.
The Noto peninsula is 30 minutes from Kanazawa. Photograph: Alamy
Traditional sights are many, and of the highest quality: it has one of the top three official Great Gardens of Japan, the 17th-century Kenrokuen. On my visit, many of its 9,000 trees are trussed up in the yukizuri style to support their branches against the heavy snows of winter. Nearby is the city’s 16th-century castle (mostly reconstructed yet still impressive), and though the ninja temple, Myoryuji, has no connection whatsoever with the ninja, it is still fascinating, with its trap doors, hidden floors and dedicated hari-kiri room. The circular 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, designed by Pritzker prize-winning architect studio SANAA, is genuinely world class, and there is a unique food scene, with – arguably – the best sushi restaurants in the country.
My French friend Mathilde, who lives in the city, accompanies me to two of them during my stay. The first is Shinosuke, a 10 minute drive west of the city centre, whose chef is a disciple of Kazuo Morita, considered by some as the greatest sushi chef. It is sublime but our favourite of the two is Otomezushi (+81 76 231 7447), in the more central nightlife district of Korinbo, with a less ascetic atmosphere and more sharply seasoned rice. Highlights include the gasu ebi, a super-sweet prawn too delicate to transport and thus almost impossible to find outside the region, and nodoguro, which Mathilde, a fluent Japanese speaker, translates as black-throated gnomefish (though I prefer the Latin name: scombrops boops). A meal at either costs around £60, but there’s fantastic takeaway sushi at the lively, 280-year-old Omi-cho market for about £10.
Otomezushi restaurant
The gold leaf work I saw at the station is one of several traditional crafts for which Kanazawa is famed. At Hazuka, a gold-leaf artisan boutique in one of the town’s tastefully preserved geisha quarters, I watch, transfixed, as a member of staff demonstrates how to work with these micro-thin sheets of gold. Too clingy to touch, the leaf ripples like water as she gently blows it into place.
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While Kyoto can sometimes seem a little stagey, with fake geishas roaming the Gion district like costumed characters, Kanazawa’s geisha and samurai districts are more traditional. There are still around 40 geisha in the city, and samurai families remain here too.
“That authentic, local feeling is very strong,” explains Chris Wiggin during a sake-fuelled izakaya-crawl one night. The 27-year-old American married a local woman and now lives in the city. How are Kanazawans perceived by the rest of Japan, I wonder? “They are shy, quiet, not so outgoing, but once you get to know them, they really open up. When I first came here, I felt like I was in the middle of nowhere, which I rather liked, actually. And the food is amazing.”
Amazing indeed. “It’s a challenge for you,” says the grinning chef at my hotel breakfast buffet the next morning, when I ask about a small pot of what looks like crumbs. It is fugu roe. “We salt it for four hours so all the poison has gone away. You won’t die!” he adds. A basic requirement of breakfast, I’d have thought, but I try it, and am rather taken by this pungent condiment.
I take the normal train back to Tokyo the next day. It has to be one of the most beautiful train journeys in the world, skirting the coast before turning inland to tackle the Japanese Alps. The views are worth the ride alone, but Kanazawa offers much more.
•For more information on Kanazawa, go to seejapan.co.uk. Flights were provided by Japan Airlines (0344 856 9778, uk.jal.com), which flies from Heathrow to various Japanese cities from £680 return
