I took the Shinkensen to Himeji to see the castle. It’s not too far from Kyoto, about 45 minutes on a direct train. Unfortunately, my rail pass does not allow me to take the fastest train from Kyoto, but it does allow it from Osaka. For that reason I chose to change trains at Shin-Osaka station and board a Nozomi. The Nozomi is the fastest bullet train (at the moment) in Japan.
National rail pass holders are not allowed to travel on them at all, but regional passes are allowed on certain routes.
The stations are clearly marked for easy transfers and once you get to the platform there are signs of where to stand if you have not reserved a seat. In unreserved cars you just sit anywhere as long as there is room.
The trains are nice and clean with announcements in Japanese and English and LCD displays telling you the next station. They are very fast but a lot of the 30 minute trip from Shin-Osaka is through tunnels, so you don’t see much. They are pretty quiet. You are told to set your mobile phone to silent and people go between cars to make and receive calls. There was also a smoking room on the train which I found quite funny.
Once you arrive, you get a view of the castle. At the moment they are doing restorative work, so the view is a little obscured. It’s scheduled to be finished in Spring 2015.
Even still the structure is impressive. You can tour the other buildings inside the castle walls and have green tea in the garden. The area is really nice and is an easy day trip from Kyoto or Osaka.
Going back I stopped at Kobē which is famous for it’s beef, but it was very expensive to get with most menus over 75$ for a plate. Instead I had sashimi and sushi, as selected by the chef who was very helpful since there was no English menu. It was really fresh and really well presented. It came to 15$ with a beer, which I figure is pretty good.