Japan’s trains toe

Japan’s intra and inter-city mode of transport is clean, fast, always on time and so easy to use, writes Greg Rule

Tokyo railway station — where even the doughnuts are better. My iced doughnut at La Terre cafe at Tokyo Station was filled with a sweet-potato-like paste and topped with two small green leaves. It was delicious and almost made up for the watery coffee.

The doughnuts and the rail system in Tokyo are as close to faultless as the Japanese can make them.

If Tokyo’s underground and loop system is not the most efficient in the world, I’d like to know which city’s is.

As myriad lines lead to scattered sites, it becomes apparent it is easier to navigate the sprawling city from station platforms and underground tracks than through its streets.

The ubiquitous rail maps, a pull-out copy of which is included in the latest Lonely Planet Japan, may look like a game of snakes and ladders gone crazy but it’s a simple matter of following the colours and numbers and letters codes to get anywhere in Tokyo in a snap.

The Shibuya fashion district is station Z01 on the mauve Hanzomon Line; the retail, park and temple area of Ueno is G16 on the grey Hibiya Line and the Tsukiji Fish Market is E18 on the pinky-red Oedo Line.

Working out fares is just as easy. The ticket machines have English options, the fares are only a couple of dollars and if your ticket cost doesn’t cover your journey price, simply pay the difference with a fare adjustment machine or to the ever-courteous turnstile staff.

This is a country where the warning signs not to jam one’s fingers in carriage doors are accompanied by a picture of a worried panda.

But the Tokyo network takes a back seat to Japan’s Shinkansen intercity bullet trains and, thanks to JR Group and its Japan Rail Pass, overseas tourists can travel on them for a fraction of the full fare cost.

I used my seven-day rail pass to travel from Tokyo to Kyoto, Osaka, Hiroshima and to the Hakone mountains and lakes district before returning to Tokyo.

I activated the pass at Ueno station where the smiling young staffer, whose excellent English was helped along by 18 GETTING THERE airnz.co.nz ACCOMMODATION gate-hotel.jp/english DETAILS months on Australia’s Gold Coast, reserved my seats and suggested my route. Shinkansen on-board crews dress like flight attendants, and so they should. With maximum speeds of 300km/h, the trains look and go like rockets. Inside, it’s all plush. The people next to me have slipped off their shoes and are sipping beers and nibbling nuts. A woman pushing a cart is offering cakes, sweets, coffee and icecream for the journey. Each time the beige-uniformed conductor leaves a cabin, he turns and solemnly bows (a practice that I’m sure would be much appreciated if it were taken up by New Zealand train staff). The trains have Western and Japanesestyle toilets, vending machines, public phones Japan Rail Passes are available only to foreigners visiting Japan and must be purchased outside Japan. The passes are valid for seven, 14 or 21 days. The cost of adult economy-class passes for travel throughout the country are, at the time of publication, $366 for seven days, $583 for 14 days and $746 for 21 days. They can be bought online at japantravel.com. and smoking rooms. Each seat has a normal and a braille sign noting its row and number.

The Shinkansen from Osaka to Hiroshima was like flying first class. Each huge pop-back seat had a wide, individual arm rest, pop-down table, pop-up drink holder and pop-out jacket hook. This is economy class, not the slightly more expensive first class green section.

From Tokyo to Kyoto took about two hours, 45 minutes; from Kyoto to Osaka, about 15 minutes; from Osaka to Hiroshima, one-and-ahalf hours, and from Hiroshima to Odawara in the Hakone area behind Tokyo, a bit more than two hours.

Along the journey, I bowed at centuries-old Kyoto temples, was shouted sushi, udon noodles and beer at an izakaya-style restaurant in Osaka by a grinning Japanese gentleman, who did not speak English, and queued with Japanese