Even before we arrived in Tokyo, Nathan was fascinated by shin kan sen, though mostly the toy shin kan sen.
Today we took the Nozomi N700 from Shinagawa to Shin Yokohama to go to Ikea. It was an extremely short ride; by the time we took out the drink, the peanuts, ate 5 of them we had to get off. But what a ride! awesome! - it was fast, efficient (it only stops for 2 minutes at each station) gets you from A to B with no fuss. It just zooms in, picks you up, and zooms out. This is how travel should be. If the passengers are alert and prepared, the service can be fast and efficient. Wow.
I want to live in Shin Yokohama just to be able to take the shinkansen to work in Marunouchi!
As for Ikea - its ikea: the same in every country. Cheap products, expensive delivery.
