Japan Beats the US in Awesomeness Again

I like to tell people who don't live in my fair state that the best thing about California is the ability to wake up in the morning and go surfing, then head out to the mountains and go snowboarding, then cruise down to a lake and go wakeboarding, and still be home in time for dinner.

This awesome day is theoretically possible from just about anywhere in the state, but it carries a rather large carbon footprint, and you would still spend less time enjoying all these fun activities than you would driving from one to the next. Probably why this sentiment is more descriptive than it is literal.

Enter some Japanese train wizards, who are planning on making a feat of this sort not just greener, but actually practical.

According to this article in the Los Angeles Times, Japan plans to build a train by 2025 that will get a passenger from Nagoya to Tokyo (a trip of about 220 miles) in less than 40 minutes. That's right - they expect this train to travel at more than 300 miles an hour.

What up US inventors! Why are we letting the Japanese leave us in the dust with this crazy amazing train! If we brought this tecnhology to California, I could wake up for an early morning surf session at Ocean Beach, change, and hop on abullet train to Northstar in time for first tracks! Hell, at those speeds, I could leave the slopes at noon to hit LA for some early afternoon waves, and STILL make it back to SF in time for dinner.

Wait a minute - That some train from LA to Vegas would only take an hour? Might need to take a rain check on that dinner back home...