Brown Motion

So begins any trip onboard Japan's high speed trains when a soft female voice announces that you are now part of a Shinkansen (train) experience.  The narration is quickly followed by a long Japanese translation about the destination, stops to be made and so on.  I actually debated titling this episode - Pop goes the Weasel - but then decided it was too cheesy to - even for the blog. Reason being that or another really funky nursery rhyme is the sound you hear on a Xylophone rendition, over the PA system when a Shinkansen is about to appear. In the post WWII era Japan expanded its industrial production in all spheres and the rails were no exception.  Called 'Shinkansen' which literally translates to 'New Rail Line' was a project that Japan undertook in its modernization spree starting in the sixties. They built dedicated and custom engineered rail lines for allowing high speed trains to service the most busy corridors on the main island of Honshu, ...