Tuesday 17 December 2013

Snow-capped Fuji from Shinkansen Window

Set number Z2 of the EMU JR Central N700 series arrives at Tokyo Sta. on the Tokaido Shinkansen
 
Along with "Ekiben (a meal for railway passengers)", the scenery from the train window is a source of amusement for railway travelers. Specifically, on the Tokaido Shinkansen, the scenery of Mt. Fuji is the greatest pleasure. We can see the beautiful stratovolcano on the right side along the run of the westbound Shinkansen train, if the weather permits.

The bottom photo is the snow-capped Mt. Fuji shot from Nozomi super express train near Shin-Fuji Station. It was a beautiful sunny day without a cloud in the sky. It was an excellent opportunity to shoot this symbolic mountain.

My main problem was how to shoot this scenery through the bullet train window. The super express Nozomi was going at top speed, over 270km/hour, on the track. To focus a camera on both the far mountain and the near city area is not easy. I selected the highest shutter speed, a 1/8,000 second, and waited for a chance. It was about 47 minutes after leaving Tokyo Station. I released the shutter just after passing through Shin-Fuji Station.

In the meantime, Nozomi super express is the fastest Shinkansen train on the Tokaido and Sanyo Shinkansen lines. Its maximum speed is 300km/hour. Nozomi goes from Tokyo (Japan's capital city) to Osaka (the largest city in the western part of Japan) in just two and a half hours. The vehicle for Nozomi super express is the EMU N700 series (see the top photo). It is the latest model on the Tokaido and the Sanyo Shinkansen lines launched in 2005. 

 
View of Mt. Fuji (3,776m) from the Shinkansen window