I love train travel, especially so in Japan. The shinkansens (Japanese bullet trains) are so fast, clean and punctual. Tokyo station is organised madness with people zipping in and out, rushing to platforms, hauling luggage etc. Yet there is so much order to this chaos and everything runs like clockwork.

You can’t help but marvel at humans’ engineering feat when one of those sleek shinkansens slips quietly and smoothly next to the platform where you are waiting for it. The machine is pure beauty; poetry in motion.

During my trip to Japan in December 2017, I bought a Hokuriku JR pass to take the shinkansen to Kanazawa. Along the way the train zipped past office buildings, apartment blocks, the Saitama stadium, Mount Fuji in the distance, farm land, villages, snow capped mountains, and the Sea of Japan. It was like watching a movie with scene after scene unfolding.

After 2.5 hours my “movie” ended as the shinkansen pulled into Kanazawa station.