Shinkansen

When you want to see the sights around Japan, which transportation system will you use? I know it depends on where you are going. If you are in Tokyo and you intend to go to Kyoto or the most famous sightseeing spot for foreign visitors, will you take an airplane, a train or a night bus? After taking costs and time into deliberate consideration, you must choose the best one.

In huge continental countries like the United Sates of America, without any hesitations you would choose an airplane because of its convenience when you are going to even the peripheral states. The US is the most advanced country in air transportation system. The airports are very near big cities and the tickets are much cheaper in the same distance that those in Japan thanks to cutthroat competition among airplane companies.

The Japanese airline system, however, is not so convenient because some of the airports are a little distant from major cities. In the case of traveling to Kyoto from Tokyo, we can easily get access to Haneda in Tokyo, but the airport nearest Kyoto is the Osaka airport (Itami), which is not so close. I recommend you to choose the Shinkansen in the route.

What surprises me about the express train is its punctuality. When I had been in Hiroshima for three years due to company's transfer, I came and went between Tokyo and Hiroshima almost every month. I have never experienced any delays of its arriving despite it takes four hours by the fastest Shinkansen in the distance. It has not been late even by one minute. Although it has well-computerized control system, this accuracy is praiseworthy.

Getting to the main subject, its safety is also amazing. There have not any big bodily injuries for thirty-five years in the Shinkansen since it started running. To take a look at the reason why Taiwan will adapt the Shinkansen system in the domestic transportation, the reason is that Shinkansen is too safe.

If I take up one risk, it's tunnel collapses although it is not a specific risk in Shinkansen itself. The fragments of walls in some Shinkansen tunnels have collapsed in recent years. The cause of the accidents is its overage. This risk stemmed rather from the negligence of the railway companies. Since the companies declared that there was no danger any more after the throughout checks, Shinkansen seems to be the safest conveyance. Of course we can consider such thinkable risks as braking troubles, derailing. If you are afraid of such cases, it’s better to get on the tail cars. As the past thirty-five-year data says, however, there is no big risk. So what's a risk? The risk may be that you miss the station you want to get off by oversleeping to your peace of mind.