Buckle yourself up for safety - and take off on a Bowl of Tomorrow. When pushing the button "Start", make sure you have learned Kanji to the End - else expect problems with landing. Yes - that's it: over a dozen controls and handles - all in Kanji, and a bunch of LED navigation signals.  Momento Fine!

Not every whistle comes from a bullet train. The train of twenty-first century brings nostalgic memories of early 70s Moscow Metro. As then (and now) in Moscow, it punctually shows up every couple of minutes to pick up 7-year-old girls heading for school next stop or housewives going to a department store at a near-by exchange station, or businessmen carrying their favorite movies along on a portable DVD player.

Remember that anecdote about a Japanese businessman buying a stock of abacuses in Russia, as if to dismantle them and get high-quality wood for Japanese high-tech production? Little we Russians knew that the businessman was actually driven by demand for computing devices in Japan.

The country with the largest (or still second largest?) private car pool in the world must have wonder-roads (highways, autobahns, dorogi) to accommodate it all... ...I'd rather drive a left-steering car in this left-side-traffic country - the metal and plastic of an oncoming vehicle is little scare in view of poles, trees and drainage trenches on my left. Better yet a 4X4. Still better a Russian 4X4...

Like this Lada-2121 Niva.