Thanks for all your comments and concern about the small earthquake that hit Tokyo and a few other regions yesterday - but the first we heard about it was this morning in the newspaper on the train. We were in the right part of the country to avoid this one - in fact about as far away as we could have been, so no scary moments for us there. Our newspaper, however, made no mention of England been beaten 4-1 by Denmark. Surely that can`t be true? We`ve been traveling on the bullet train again this morning. This time it was the newest addition to the network and is known as "Tsubame" - it opened in March 2004. In fact, only the southern most portion of the route is completed, so the entire trip takes only 45 minutes and at least 50% of that is in tunnels. They are currently working on the connection to Hakata and the rest of Japan. The trains themselves are great fun. We watched in amazement as the team of cleaners lined up waiting for the train to arrive, and actually bow as it passes them along the platform. They then scurry along each carriage dusting all the surfaces whilst the seats slowly rotate in a synchronized motion to face back the other way. They then retreat and form a line at the door to bow again as we board. Once in motion, hostesses with wicker baskets distribute sweets and towelettes, and the impeccably besuited inspector bows before leaving each carriage backwards. As if we didn`t feel out of place enough already, our smelly island attire really didn`t seem altogether appropriate.
On our arrival in Fukuoka a little while ago, you can probably imagine my excitement to discover that our hotel room looks directly down onto the Shikansen tracks below, so I can sit and watch the various varieties glide in and out to my hearts content. Rachel was almost as excited to find a hair dryer in the room.
Fukuoka is a very modern place and tomorrow there are some great buildings to explore, but now we are about to start doing a bit of research into plans for the rest of our trip. We have just over a week left on our rail passes before we hope to go to China for a couple of weeks. As yet we have no idea how to get there, but a 48-hour ferry journey might be one option.