HIGH-SPEED ART JAPAN

Rugby fans out for the World Cup this autumn may want to change the pace a bit with a ride on what is almost certainly the fastest-moving art gallery in the world, the Genbi Shinkansen (bullet train) running between Echigo-Yuzawa and Niigata on the island of Honshu. Carriages are dedicated to different art forms with paintings, photographs and carriage decor depicting traditional themes such as harvests and festivals in a modern and vivid way. In the second coach, the wall is filled with mirrors, giving scope for self-reflection as the real landscape shoots by outside.

Inside Japan (0117 370 9751; insidejapantours.com) can tailor trips to include a ride on the Genbi Shinkansen before, during or after the Rugby World Cup.