Japan is well known for its iconic Shinkansen, or bullet trains, and while the trains themselves aren't the fastest in the world anymore, they still win plenty of style points. Take, for instance, JR East's new E5 series, pictured above, which will enter service in 2011. It's aerodynamic aluminum alloy frame will be able to slice through the air at speeds up to 200 miles per hour, and JR East has already ordered 590 cars at 10 cars per train. Now all they need is a color scheme that isn't green and pink.

Whenever we see news about the high tech train systems in other countries, we can't help but get a little jealous, what with the state of the American rail system and all. At least that 300 mile-per-hour maglev that'll run between Disney and Las Vegas gives us hope.

Via CrunchGear