Why I love Shinkansen's!

[Sushi Train]

8) http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/world_news_america/7955345.stm  8)

[Claude_Dreyfus]

On a similar subject to Bullets on the BBC, did anyone see the 'Great Railway Journeys' on BBC4 Saturday night - being played as part of the Japanese season on that channel? Even Mrs Dreyfus watched it all - she thinks trains are 'sad'  :o - although loves Japan and Bullets (especially the 500 series at the start of the program which was greeted with "Wow!").

 

Very enjoyable 50 minutes, showing amongst others, a couple of 300 series; a short depot sequence showing 0, 100 and 500; and a two-minute cab ride in a 500. Other trains included a 787 unit, a couple of what looked to be class 103s (this was a repeat from about 1998), and a couple of steam engines...

 

Just prior to this on BBC3 was a repeat of Top Gear where they raced a Nissan GTR against Japanese public transport, including a 700 set between Kyoto and Yokohama, across Japan. That was pretty cool  8).

 

BTW; for those that can, there is a program about the Japanese relationship with fish - tonight at about 9:00 on BBC4.

[Guest ___]

Sadly there's no BBC in the states, and we get very little programming on satdish via BBC America.

[Bernard]

Ditto, it's too bad I would have really like to have seen that show. What we do get from England in the USA, are all your sitcoms but re-worked.

[Claude_Dreyfus]

Ditto, it's too bad I would have really like to have seen that show. What we do get from England in the USA, are all your sitcoms but re-worked.

 

Hmm, that is sad - especially as some of our sitcoms really are not worth our licence fee! Contrary to the opinion of many UK residents, when the BBC kicks off these mini-seasons, some really good stuff is produced - as I said, the Japan season has produced some very interesting programs, including an hour-and-a-half program called 'The search for Wabi Sabi', which delved into Japanese society...somehow Bullet trains crept into that as well  :).

 

Going back to the OP. As may will know, trains are not held in particularly high regard over here..although they are nowhere near as bad as the media portrays them to be. Aside from childhood favourites, such as Thomas the tank Engine (ruthlessly exploited and nowadays so dreadfully devalued, it bears little resemblance to Rev. Awdry's creation  :() and Ivor the Engine, only the Eurostar and Bullets (of the 'modern trains') seem to capture the public imagination - even if most are thinking of the 0 series (there is an 0 series driving trailer at our National railway Museum).

 

Shinkansen conjours up images of fast, sleek, clean and efficient trains which wow the public, and make them wish we had a Bullet network of our own. I think most people love the Shinkansen, especially the Japanese, as it's theirs... ;D

[Martijn Meerts]

Most French people probably don't like the Shinkansen, considering they take away some of the "pride" of the TGV's =)

[CaptOblivious]

Ditto, it's too bad I would have really like to have seen that show. What we do get from England in the USA, are all your sitcoms but re-worked.

 

Hmm, that is sad - especially as some of our sitcoms really are not worth our licence fee! Contrary to the opinion of many UK residents, when the BBC kicks off these mini-seasons, some really good stuff is produced - as I said, the Japan season has produced some very interesting programs, including an hour-and-a-half program called 'The search for Wabi Sabi', which delved into Japanese society...somehow Bullet trains crept into that as well  :).

 

Going back to the OP. As may will know, trains are not held in particularly high regard over here..although they are nowhere near as bad as the media portrays them to be. Aside from childhood favourites, such as Thomas the tank Engine (ruthlessly exploited and nowadays so dreadfully devalued, it bears little resemblance to Rev. Awdry's creation  :() and Ivor the Engine, only the Eurostar and Bullets (of the 'modern trains') seem to capture the public imagination - even if most are thinking of the 0 series (there is an 0 series driving trailer at our National railway Museum).

 

Shinkansen conjours up images of fast, sleek, clean and efficient trains which wow the public, and make them wish we had a Bullet network of our own. I think most people love the Shinkansen, especially the Japanese, as it's theirs... ;D

 

 

That's a shame. Two summers ago (during that dreadful flooding around Oxford), I took the train from Paddington to Exeter and back, and found it both inexpensive (even at the time's 2:1 exchange rate), fast and comfortable. I thought, the entire trip, what a shame it was that we don't have anything like that here.

 

Where have I gone wrong in my thinking?

[scott]

the Japan season has produced some very interesting programs, including an hour-and-a-half program called 'The search for Wabi Sabi', which delved into Japanese society...somehow Bullet trains crept into that as well  :).

 

Arg--why we get hours of murder mysteries and home-improvement shows on BBC America instead of that kind of programming baffles me.

 

Where have I gone wrong in my thinking?

 

You're asking the wrong crowd on that one--I'm right there with you. Back in 1998, we spent three weeks in Switzerland and Italy (plus a day-trip to Freiburg DE) taking trains and postbuses almost everywhere, and it was painful coming back here. Amtrak  is so poor that if there aren't any seats left between here and DC, they can't afford to add a coach.

[to2leo]

I love the Shinkansen and had vivid memories of them when I went to Japan with the Japan Rail Pass in 2005.  The beautiful trains are reliable, quiet and smooth.  The journey is more relaxed and quiet and doesn't smell (unlike some Amtrak train going from LA to New Orleans).

 

I rode the ICEs, TGVs before, they are unique in their own way but I would choose Shinkansen any day!

 

As for Shinkansen being profitable, I thought the reason why JR have broken off into regional companies is due to heavy debt after years of expansion and construction.

[Guest ___]

They need to bring back Father Ted (resurrect him from the dead) and make a new show, Tainman Ted and base it on a Shinkansen :P

 

Back to my Guinness.