I found by chance, while checking my old iPhone. That I did record a commemorative Shinkansen series 700 on its last days of operation at Shin-Osaka station. What I do remember about this video, is seeing plenty of people at the platform across while I was waiting for my train to Tokyo.
I noticed on few of the video frames, that the side of the Shinkansen had the following wording: SHINKANSEN Series 700, ありがとう LAST RUN 2020.3.8.
The actual last run did not occur because of the COVID-19 outbreak. I took the video on Feb 29th 2020.
Shinkansen Series 700 Last Run at Shin-Osaka station
My second 10+ minutes video into YouTube. A window point of view of the ride between Kyoto and Maibara stations. No music no dialogue. It is just like if you were riding the train and watching the scenery from your seat.
The train set is a N700A series (N700系). The train service is Hikari (ひかり), that is the second fastest. This ride was around noon on a sunny summer day. This trip takes 18 minutes. Mostly with views of suburban and rural areas and two tunnels. It shows about five or six trains in the opposite direction passing by at full speed during this trip. By the end of the video there is a train passing by at full speed while while waiting for passengers to disembark.
The train is very quiet with a smooth ride. Only the sound of the wind when going at 300 km/h and the occasional sound of wheels passing on a bridge or switch. I love the catchy tune before the train announcements.
Please comment if you like to have more videos like this one. Or things you will like to have improved.
I just added my first 10+ minutes video into YouTube. It is just a window point of view of the ride between Shin-Osaka and Kyoto stations. No music no dialogue. It is just like if you were riding the train and watching the scenery from your seat drinking some green tea or your favorite drink.
Train set is a N700A series (N700系). The train service is Hikari (ひかり), that is the second fastest. This ride was around noon on a sunny summer day. This trip takes a little less than 15 minutes. We passed by a depot full of Shinkansen trains being serviced along the route. Mostly views of urban and suburban areas as the Hyogo-Osaka-Kyoto region is densely populated around the cities of Kobe, Osaka and Kyoto were this train runs.
The train is very quiet with a smooth ride. Only the sound of the wind when going at 300 km/h and the occasional sound of wheels passing on a bridge or switch. I love the catchy tune before the train announcements.
Please comment if you like to have more videos like this one. Or things you will like to have improved.
The Hello Kitty Shinkansen is a series 500 Shinkansen (500系, 500-kei) that runs almost daily between Hakata (Fukuoka) and Shin-Osaka station. The train is the slowest service Kodama that makes all stops during the trip. It departs from Hakata station at about 7:00 AM, arriving to Shin-Osaka station by 11:25 AM. Roughly 4 hours and 20 minutes. It stays in the station briefly for about 10 minutes before returning. The return trip departs at about 11:35 AM. Arriving back to Hakata by 3:50 PM.
In this video, I was waiting at Himeji station to make the a trip from Himeji to Shin-Osaka. Some children can be heard greeting the train as it pulls into the station.
The train set consists of eight cars. Car 1 is named Hello Kitty Plaza where there is a seating area for small children with special reservation and a store with exclusive merchandise.
Car 2 is called the “Kawaii Room”. Here there is a special area for the memory photo with Kitty-chan, space for luggage with themed colors on the seats. The window shades are also themed.
Kitty-chan on car 2Do you see Kitty-chan hiding by the seat side?
Cars 3 to 8 are the “normal” cars although they have their dose of cuteness with colors and small details on the car for the expert eye to spot.
Car 8 at the other end of the train has a replica of Shinkansen controls were children can sit down and pretend to drive the train. This car is almost ignored all the time but it is fun to check out.
This train can be reserved as any other Shinkansen. Just make sure to reserve the Kodama 730 (Hakata to Shin-Osaka) or Kodama 741 (Shin-Osaka to Hakata). On a low ridership day and if you have a JR Pass, you just can hoop on the non-reserved cars.
Although Shinkansen trains are considered trains beyond express service, there are three levels of Shinkansen service. Being Nozomi the fastest with very few stops. Nozomi trains made the trip between Tokyo and Osaka in 2.5 hours at 300 km/h (185 mph).
Captured a couple of old tram sets passing by the Peace Park. These are fun to ride and enjoyable to see along more modern vehicle traffic. Very well maintained.
Matsumoto Castle (松本城) is one of the most complete and beautiful castles. It is one of the few that were not built on a hill. It is about an easy 2.5 hours side trip from Tokyo.
Excellent spot for photography as it is surrounded by mountains that gives great background, either snowed mountains or autumn colors.
A city that was once the only window of Japan to the world
Nagasaki was for a long period the only port open to foreign merchants. This made it a special place where you can see how it was for the first contact of Japanese culture and western culture some centuries ago.
A good visit to Nagasaki will require at least two full days. However, on this case, I tried to do it as a side trip from Fukuoka. By using Fukuoka as a hub for future visits to other Kyushu destinations, like: Kumamoto, Kagoshima and Oita.
The trip from Hakata station to Nagasaki station used to be about 2 hours long. Now, with the new partial section of the Shinkansen to Nagasaki. It can be made in about 1 hour and 35 minutes.
This trip can be done as a one day side trip from Fukuoka. It covers six places of relevance: Peace Park, Hypocenter Park and Urakami Cathedral on the north side; Oura Cathedral and Glover Garden in the south side; and the 26 Martyrs Memorial near Nagasaki station. All reachable by tram and walk.
Started my trip from Hakata station. I took the KAMOME express train departing at 8:57 AM and arrived to Nagasaki by 10:50 AM. After getting my day pass, I took a tram heading north. I arrived to Peace Park station in about 15 minutes and walked towards the Hypocenter Park.
Nagasaki tram – line 3
Nagasaki tram at UrakamiArea map. Peace Park, Atomic Bomb Hypocenter and Urakami Cathedral to the left
The Hypocenter park is really quiet despite the traffic of a nearby avenue. It is an open space with a set of concentric circles around a black monolith that marks the exact spot of the detonation of the atomic bomb. The monolith also has a memorial for the people who died. Next to is a remnant pillar of the Urakami Cathedral that was destroyed. On the 50th anniversary, a statue of a mother and her child was added.
Mother and Child statue
The park is almost circular and not so big. I was able to walk around it in few minutes. Then, I headed to the Peace Park that is across the street. The access is uphill through a set of stairs. There are also electric escalators to facilitate the access.
Children memorial
Once reached the top of the hill, is the fountain of peace at the entrance. There is a plaque in black stone, with words from a dairy of a girl who survived the explosion that reads: “I was unbearably thirsty, but there was something like oil floating in the water. I needed to drink, so I drank the water with the oil still floating on it“.
At the back of the park is the Peace statue. It is also a place for a yearly prayer to the people who died as result of the atomic bombing. Around the park there statues and memorials presented from countries around the world. A really quiet atmosphere that gives you time to reflect.
Peace Park statueUrakami Cathedral view from the Peace Park
After some time of reflection, and some pictures. I headed to the Urakami Cathedral that is few blocks from the park. The Urakami Cathedral was reconstructed uphill from its original location. Near the entrance there are some statues that survived the explosion.
Urakami Cathedral
There is a path to the north side of the grounds that leads to the remains of the belfry. The only remain from the original structure. I was allowed to go inside the church but no pictures were allowed. The stained glass was beautiful.
After visiting this three places I walked the street down back to the tram station. It was past lunch time, so I jump into the next one heading back to Nagasaki station, looking for some ramen.
Ramen break at Nagasaki Station
After a good ramen. I recovered my energy to head to the Glover Garden. After getting off at the Oura Cathedral station. I walked up hill towards the garden. The entrance of the Church was visible from the street. I had to skip visiting it as there was a mass at the moment. I did continue walking towards the garden.
Oura Cathedral
The Glover Garden is an open air museum with plenty of gardens and western style buildings. The buildings are from the Meiji era when Japan opened its borders. Buildings are of Dutch and English style. Used by foreign merchants.
I had some nice views of the city and the bay from the Glover Garden hill.
After this place, I went to the Nagasaki Traditional Performing Arts Center. It is located a few steps from the exit of the Garden. They had a nice exhibition of floats and dragons used for the Ja Odori or dragondance.
Tram arriving to Oura Cathedral station
I headed back to Nagasaki station and there was still some sunlight. I decided to do a quick visit to the site of the 26 Martyrs of Japan. This is the site were 26 Christians were executed in 1597. I took some pictures as the sun was setting. The place is very peaceful.
Monument to the 26 Martyrs
I walked back to Nagasaki station. I was right on time to the next train to Fukuoka.
