The Japanese have mastered the art of transportation. Their trains have set records for the fastest and have become known to be the most punctual (on time) trains in any modern society. The first of the Shinkansen was established in 1964 and can currently (June 2016) reach speeds of 443KP/H or 275MPH. Using our snapchat (wanderlustyle) filter, it showed we were traveling at 213MPH (342KM/H) – Real unfortunate that I didn’t save that snap and I’m actually unsure if it was accurate or not because I’ve read the average speed is usually 270KM/H or 167MPH. Either way, truthfully, this thing was swift!

Our last view of Kyoto Station.

If you view Kyoto train station like an airport, the Shinkansen is located in a different terminal. It is separate from the subways and JR lines (normal trains connecting to neighboring cities or downtown spots). Standing apart from the rest, you can immediately tell that this was unlike any ordinary passenger train.

The Japanese not only have punctual trains but also the safest in the world. From research, the Shinkansen has had zero passenger fatalities – That’s more than a whopping 10 billion passengers, over the course of 50 years and through all types of natural disasters.

This is not the train you are looking for.

Story: Excited to board our very first BULLET TRAIN, we jumped on with all our luggage and no thought in the world, literally. We didn’t stop to look at the time our ticket had or the time the current train we were on arrived. Well, here we were, looking for our seats on a crowded train, walking up and down the aisle with our luggages with confused stares from onlookers, and behold…WE WERE ON THE WRONG TRAIN.

It wasn’t all that bad. After our nerves had settled and assistance from a train worker, we were okay and headed in the direction which we set forth. If we wanted, we could have stayed on this train until our final destination (Tokyo) but opted to get off on the next stop.

With no available seating, we had to stand for 30 minutes. It was nice to look outside while we waited for the next stop, plus it’s a funny memory, now.

Waiting for our train (which was only 5 minutes behind the accidentally boarded one.)

Comfy seating, even bigger than some commercial airlines.

Took the 2 hour train ride as an opportunity to keep up to date with trading!

Shinjuku Station! – Our final destination – The busiest train station in the world.

That’s Shinjuku station from our hotel! That thing is massive! Japan’s infrastructure is a marvel in itself amongst its many other attributes. Although The Shinkansen can be a bit pricey, if you’re in Japan it’s the quickest and most reliable piece of transportation to be utilized. We highly recommend to use it at least once! Just don’t make our mistake and double check the train times and make sure it correlates with what the printed ticket says!