Japan`s shinkansen train is well known in China. In 70-s of 20th century Deng Xiaoping during his visit to Japan took a ride at Toukai shinkansen train, and was greatly admired with its high speed.
   Although after the first line was opened in 1964 (Toukai line), such lines as Sanyou, Touhoku, Akita, Yamagata, Nagano, Kyushu were opened one after another, Toukai line with its tight schedule, crowds of passengers, huge scale of transportation, remained the aorta of the whole shinkasen system, it was called the golden railway.
   Toukai shinkansen has the following features.
   Toukai shinkansen connects the main cities of Japan: Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto, Nagoya. The first train starts at 6:00 AM every morning, the last train is at 23:00. Schedule is as tight as the shuttle bus`s one. Lots of passengers are transported every day. The proceeds are 1.4 trillion yen every year, every day 398 thousand passengers use this line.
Started in OCT 1964, Shinkasen has beeing used for 46 years correctly, safely, without letal accidents. Every year in Japan break out natural disasters, such as typhoons and earthquakes, due to them sometimes Shinkansen trains are late. The average lateness time is 0.6-1.5 minutes per trip.
   Described above speed, comfort, safety, all these pecularities of Shinkansen make it extremelly popular among the passengers. The price of the ticket from Tokyo to Osaka is the same as the plane, but a lot of passengers prefer Shinkansen. Especially foreigners, who want to enjoy the high speed experience and beautiful landskapes along the Shinkansen`s route.
   Once a friend came to Japan and he was going to Kyoto. We bought the Shinkansen tickets including staying in hotel for 1 night. It was much cheaper than to buy tickets and book the hotel separately, still it made possible to enjoy beautiful lancskapes of Mt Fuji and Pacific coast and stay in 4-star hotel.