Wireless on Bullet Trains
 

3 hours of "dead time" coming up on Thursday. Want to be semi-productive, so.......

Can you use wireless on the bullet trains?

Do you need a Japanese ISP or do you pay by credit card?

Gazza

No WiFi on the Shinkansen.

They're starting to roll out electrical outlets for passenger use in the latest trains. And they're upgrading networks to be able to offer wireless hotspots - but it's still a couple of years away.

(Tsukuba Express is the only train I know with wireless hotspots -- and they've been free to anyone who signs up as a monitor. But it would be less than productive for you to do that since it would get you nowhere near your destination).

Don't knock that idea. My friend Spear, many moons ago (when everybody in Japan smoked like chimneys) would ride the Chiyoda line up and down from endpoint to endpoint because that's where he could read a book in a smoke-free environment.