SCMaglev and Railway Park — Attraction in Nagoya

I can't really call myself a train enthusiast, but I am obsessed with efficiency while traveling, and that journey has led me here. I'm from a state with a high speed track to nowhere, where no one ever knows if it will be completed. In general, a country that has abandoned almost all public trail transport, but still complains how badly it hurts when prices rise. Japan solved all this, and the history of their success is here.

Honestly, if it wasn't for JR I wouldn't have had the opportunity to "chase the sun" so easily in a cherry blossom season where rain appeared randomly across cities. JR Pass, combined with being in Nagoya salvaged my entire trip ( and trips to Japan ain't cheap).

Like with other museums in Japan, entry was easy. There is a person working the counter as well as automatic kiosks, which seems to be a pretty standard affair.

There is an audio assistant available in various languages that guides you around the museum, but I opted to explore on my own. The only real restrictions here seem to be no selfie sticks and not sitting in the seats on the exhibits.

The staff was really polite here, so basically Japanese, and there is an entire kids play area if your visit is really tailored to adults.

While I can't call myself an enthusiast, I learned to love trains. What started as a simple conversation with a railroad engineer in Dallas eventually made me rethink the entire transportation system, so this was the perfect place to bring it all together.

The museum features all the most famous Japanese models on their way to (profitable) rail dominance, each one listing the new speed record set when it was put into service.

It's cool to see how the controls and interior have evolved into the modern day shinkansen, which is an absolutely awesome ride. No offense to regional airlines, but I really don't know how they are still in business.

There's also a ridiculous room that's entirely a train set, and I think it's a recreation of the entire Nagoya train station. It's impressive, and makes me feel a little bit more nerdy about trains without putting in much effort.

The museum also includes a bullet train sim that rivals professional F1 simulators, but there is an additional cost that's well worth it.

Overall the experience is really cool even if you're not a diehard train nerd, and it places perspective on travel in a way most non-japanese residents will never understand. As I landed in Texas on a plane, some remarked that you can "only take trains when you have extra time," and it made me realize how much that's an American perspective.

If you're in a rush in Japan, you look for the Shinkansen and the...

I'll start by saying that this is definitely a place for train fans, so if you consider yourself that then you will love it. If not, I still think you'll find it enjoyable, although probably not for as long.

The museum consists of two main rooms, one being rather epic, showing three of the fastest trains Japan has ever produced, one steam locomotive, one electric and the new Maglev, which is a sight to behold. The second room is gigantic and full of trains, most of which are the different models of bullet trains through history, as well as older inter city trains. This room also contains information and interactive exhibits which are largely in Japanese, but also include English. Most of these are interesting. There is also the opportunity to have photographs taken at the drivers seat of one of the trains. You're able to go into the passenger areas of the rest.

The museum also has a huge model railway with lots of funny little details that you can spot, a raffle to enter simulators, which looked very exciting, and a cafe.

There is a small room dedicated to new Maglev, with a movie in Japanese, but it's still worth going on as it stimulates a journey on the train, with vibrating seats and screens where the windows should be. This room also features more interactive displays about the unique technology, all of these are well worth a look.

The shop is packed with merchandise, from ¥100 to ¥20,000, so you should be able to find something, be it chopsticks, a key cap, or models of the trains.

I'd recommend this museum to anyone who likes trains, and it's perfect for all children. There's also seven train theme stamps inside, for you...

It would take maybe a nanosecond in Japan for you to recognize trains are part of the Japanese DNA. Unlike the US car culture, Japan is definitely a train-centered culture because train travel feeds so easily to the Japanese need for efficiency and time management. And unlike American commuters, the Japanese know how to keep quiet and behave on a train.

All of that made a visit here high on our list of to-dos in Nagoya. Owned by JR Central, this warehouse-size museum has only been around since 2011, but it houses 39 full-size railway vehicles, including several bullet trains of various vintage, plus simulator rides and a huge model train diorama. If you think all of this seems targeted to kids, you'd be right as legions of schoolchildren swarmed the trains.

Honestly, their enthusiasm was part of the appeal of the exhibits because they represent the next generation of train riders and operators. They even sat in the bullet train cars and ate their bento boxes while I walked through like a conductor. The diorama was a bit of the snooze. No surprise that there are key educational exhibits about MAGLEV, the magnetic levitation train line that represents Japan's transportation future.

Plans for Japan's first MAGLEV line between Tokyo and Osaka have been postponed until 2034, but it was still cool to ride the MAGLEV simulator which produced a sense of the smooth, super-fast travel to come. It took a solid half-hour from Nagoya Station to the southern end of the Aonami Line at Kinjofuto, but it's worth it, especially for parents who want to take their kids to Legoland nearby. Admission is...