Today, we took the Shinkansen (bullet train) to Kyoto. There are several flavors of Shinkansen that run from Tokyo to Kyoto, but of course, if you're going to take the bullet train, you have to take the fastest -- the Series 700 Nozomi. The train left right on time. (Of course. According to Wikipedia, the Shinkansen arrives within six seconds of the scheduled time on average - and that includes natural and human accidents!) The Nozomi can get up to 177 miles per hour in service, although I don't know how fast we really went. The ride was very quiet and extremely smooth; there's virtually no clacking sound like most trains because they weld the tracks together to remove the seams. It's really even nicer than the TGV in France.