Arrival
May 29th, 2003 | by Tony Steidler-Dennison |
There’s much to write about from Japan today, but not a lot of time. I’m on the ground in Bisei and have already had one planning meeting this morning (11:10 am, Saturday, Japan time). I’m excited to be back in this beautiful country and equally excited to see the telescope we installed here more than a year ago. We’ve already had two great meals. We’ve also had a beautiful drive from Okiyama to Bisei. The image to the left is the transportation we used on arrival to travel from Kansai International Airport to Okiyama. This is what a 220 kph (132 mph) bullet train looks like. It’s hard to describe how it rides, though I’ll post an audio file later in the day to provide some feel for the sound of the trip. All in all, it looks to be an exciting visit. I’ll hash through my notes from arrival last night and post a longer entry later in the day today.
[Later] Being a person of words, it’s always the first thing that strikes me in a foreign country - the public address announcements in languages I don’t understand. Many times, as in this announcement on the train to Okiyama, they’re a mixture of the native tongue and English. The announcements always bring a bit of homesickness and the excitement of adventure, all rolled into one.
[Note] The gain on the Z wasn’t set quite high enough to properly capture this announcement. You may need to increase the volume level substanatially to hear it. The voice mid-announcement is that of my co-worker …
One Response to “Arrival”
By Neil T. on May 31, 2003 | Reply
One of the retired bullet trains is in the National Railway Museum in York, England (where I live). It’s certainly an impressive beast.
As part of my holidays this year I’ll be travelling on the French TGV, which goes at 180mph at full whack. The thought of travelling at 3 miles per minute through the provencal countryside is something I’m looking forward to.