Japan’s bullet trains (called shinkansen 新幹線 in Japanese) are famous throughout the world. Their tickets are more expensive than the regular trains, but of course the bullet trains are much faster. In most stations, the bullet train area is completely separate from the regular train part of the station. And the bullet train area tends to be far nicer and cleaner.

When we travel to my husband’s hometown (from Fukushima City to Sakata City) we take a bullet train to Shinjo City. At that point, the bullet train line stops, so then we transfer to a regular train.

In the above photo, you can see the waiting room at the Fukushima City train station, in the bullet train section.

A map of some major train lines in our area. The bullet train is in green. My husband’s hometown is on the west coast, so we head out west on that green line, then north. (Then further west on the local train until we reach the end, shown by the black line.)

vending machines in the waiting room

Sign that lets you know upcoming trains. (It flashes in Japanese and English)

Kokeshi dolls are a product of Tohoku. I love Kokeshi, especially the traditional kind.

This is at Shinjo City station. Shinjo City is a very small city, and just happens to have access to the bullet train. It’s station is super duper small. Usually bullet trains and regular trains are completely separate from each other, but Shinjo City’s train station is so small that I could get a photo of a regular train and a bullet train side by side. I think the differences in their shape is obvious!