For many of us, this is our first ride on the Shinkansen 新幹線 bullet train. We took snap shots of each other as we departed Atami. Two hours later, we arrived at Kyoto Station with its modern architecture.

Of the three types of trains, this is a hikari (medium speed) with stops at some small stations. According to my GPS tracker, we reached a top speed of 268 km/hr (or 166 miles/hr) on 12:23pm, somewhere between Nagoya and Kyoto in Fuwa District, Gifu Prefecture 岐阜県 不破郡.