Japan Update Tuesday 6th

Went to a place called Hakata today. It wasn't because there was anything interesting there but it was the limit of where my rail pass would go and I wanted to get my money's worth. It is about as far as London to Edinburgh (390 miles) and whereas the fastest BR train makes the journey in 4 hrs 20, the Shinkansen does it in 2 hrs 30!! It is funny that when you look at it, although the trains here do have a higher top speed, the noticeable difference between here and there is that the Shinkansen basically only stops at stations, it never slows down for no obvious reason, it does not wait at red lights, it does not sit outside a station waiting for another train to get out of the way and does not have any major speed limits on route (although it does have some curves that are limited to about 140mph from 190mph). Bring on the maglev: UK Ultraspeed. For a small pittance compared to the governments usual wasted budget, the UK could have a 310mph rail network from north to south, linking London with Glasgow (via Birmingham, Manchester, Newcastle and Edinburgh) in 2hrs 30m!! Lobby your MPs people! The picture above is Hiroshima at sunset.