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To get to Niihama, we fly to Osaka, take the Osaka airport express train to Shin-Osaka station where we catch the Nozomi Shinkansen, changing to the Shiokaze limited express at Okayama. We split the trip over two days. It was the first time on a Shinkansen for many of us, and the first time on the newish 500 series for the train enthusiasts among us. You'd think with this many lenses aimed at the incoming train someone would've given me one of the pictures, but no! Actually Gary took this one, but I'm in the back here, shooting video.