Peter Geran comments

I'm Australian, and, I was based in Tokyo from late November 1993, to September, 1997. I used to try to escape back to Australia for a few weeks in August. Believe me, Tokyo is murder at that time of the year. When I returned to Japan after my holidays,it would take a couple of days for the inefficient air conditioning system to cool the apartment down

I like Japan , but, generally from October to the end of March. I used to shudder when I saw the rice being planted, because, it meant the end of cool weather, and, the beginning of 5 or 6 months of heat.

Actually, China is leading the world now in High Speed Rail. They currently have a train that runs up to 350 km/ hour on the Shanghai to Beijing route. It's called the Fuxing.

The news story doesn't say when that new train will commence operation.

A link to a video on the Fuxing train. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XbxhxFegWxU

China has built some impressive stations as well.

It's quite safe. I walked through that road around 2002 when I was doing some work in the Toyama region. The walls were about 18 meters high then. The record is 20 meters It's about 2,000 meters above sea level. To get to there, we drove to the bottom of the mountain, and, took a rack type rail car, then a bus to the viewing area.

But, what do I do if I need a tomago sandwich and a Coke at 3:00 AM.? Very inconsiderate of them :-)

I rode in the 500 series a number of times when they came out . That would be way be in 1995. An impressive looking train, but, compared to the 700 series, the 500 series cars were much more cramped and noisier. An impressive looking train thoufg

I tried that on my first visit to Japan in 1988... Every night, my Japanese work colleagues were asking me to try it. I gave in on my last night.... never again..... My food must have heat applied to it before I eat it. I'm in Tokyo now, and, " No way" . 30 years since my first visit.