Shinkansen Photographs near Okayama

Next year when i visit Japan i want to be able to get some photos of a Shinkansen near Maximum speed, as i will be staying at Okayama does anyone here know of a good location (station?) where it would be expressing through at 300Kph? preferably within 1 hours travel from Okayama, i was thinking of either Shin-Kurashiki or Aioi as the Nozomi's don't stop at either

I can't answer your question but, being an amateur photographer myself, I'm really interested on how you plan on capturing a train from the platform as it rushes almost directly towards you at a speed of 83m/s. I forgot the formula, but the shutterspeed would be fast to freeze the train and it is probably going too fast to pull the camera along at that speed. ^_^;;

When the French TGV ran at over 550 km/hr last year many photos were taken from a bridge over the tracks. As AK wrote, from the platform all you will get is a big blur.. I am familiar with French TGV and they--and other trains-- never ever run at full speed in stations. In addition staff keep people a couple of meters from the edge of the platform as, even at 200 km/ hr, the draft from the trains is fierce. finally I believe that flash towards trains is not allowed on platforms. Max speed is always reached between stations. Another thing is that you will not be aware, just by looking at it, that a train run by you at 200, 250, 300 km/hr. All you will know is that the train goes by really really fast. Conversely when you are inside you can see things clearly and I have taken clear photos of houses etc. outside even at a very high speed

Philip,

I can't comment specifically on the two you mention, but most of the smaller (i.e. non-Nozomi) stations west of Osaka are pretty much identical in style (through tracks in the centre with no annoying poles in the way) and good for photographing non-stop trains passing through at full speed (usually 300 km/h in the case of Nozomi trains). If you've taken photos of high-speed trains before, you'll know that even 300 km/h is no big deal, especially if using a zoom lens.