Page 16 n THE ASIAN REPORTER
ASIA / PACIFIC
October 20, 2014
World’s first bullet train, made in Japan, turns 50
SPEEDY SHINKANSEN. A Shinkansen bullet train travels by
Yurakucho Station after leaving Tokyo Station on the Tokaido Main Line
in Tokyo. Japan launched its bullet train between Tokyo and Osaka 50
years ago. (AP Photo/Shizuo Kambayashi)
By Emily Wang and Ken Moritsugu
The Associated Press
OKYO — It was, retired Japanese railway
engineer Fumihiro Araki recalls, “like flying in the
sky.”
Zipping cross-country in a super-high-speed train has
become commonplace in many countries these days, but it
was unheard of when Japan launched its bullet train
between Tokyo and Osaka 50 years ago.
The Shinkansen, as it’s called in Japan, gave a boost to
train travel in Europe and Asia at a time when the rise of
the automobile and the airplane threatened to eclipse it. It
also was a symbol of pride for Japan, less than two decades
after the end of World War II, and a precursor of the
economic “miracle” to come.
The October 1, 1964 inauguration ceremony was
re-enacted at Tokyo Station last month, complete with a
ribbon cutting. The first bullet train, with its almost cute
bulbous round nose, travelled from Tokyo to Osaka in four
hours, shaving two-and-a-half hours off the 513-kilometer
(319-mile) journey. The latest model, with a space-age-
like elongated nose, takes just two hours and 25 minutes.
Araki, now 73, drove the Shinkansen briefly in the
summer of 1967 as part of his training as a railway
operations engineer. In advance of the anniversary, he
slipped back in time as he sat in the driver’s seat of one of
the early model bullet trains at a railway museum outside
of Tokyo. He pulled a lever on the control panel, looking
straight ahead as he was trained, though all he could see
were other museum exhibits.
“It was like flying in the sky, it was that kind of feeling,”
said Araki, the acting director of the museum. “On a clear
day, you could see Mount Fuji, and riding atop the railway
bridge at Hamanako lake was very pleasant. It felt like
you were sailing above the sea.”
A controversial project
Japan started building a high-speed line during World
War II, but construction was halted in 1943 as funds ran
out. The idea was revived in the 1950s, but many
questioned undertaking such a costly project, particularly
with the expansion of air travel and highways. Criticism
turned to pride when construction, financed partly by an
$80 million World Bank loan, was completed in time for
the Tokyo Olympics in October 1964. The government
subsidizes the construction of Shinkansen lines, but
operations are the responsibility of the private companies
that run the trains, said Christopher Hood, the author of
Shinkansen: From Bullet Train to Symbol of Modern
Japan. They are generally profitable, though the com-
panies don’t break out the Shinkansen operations in their
financial results.
How fast?
The first Shinkansen had a maximum speed of 210
kilometers per hour (kph), or 130 miles per hour (mph).
The fastest trains previously, in Europe, could reach 160
kph (99 mph). Today’s bullet trains, in Japan and
elsewhere, have reached and in some cases exceeded 300
T
q
Four cookbooks I didn’t
want to like, but do anyway
Continued from page 13
Oxmoor House, 2014
Recall what I said about
single-ingredient books?
Two-ingredient
books
aren’t much better. Unless
those
two
ingredients
happen to be bourbon and
bacon. They do, after all,
make everything better.
There are no mysteries
about this book. The first
half is dedicated to a prim-
er on bourbon, followed by
numerous recipes, most of
them for cocktails, but also
some sweet treats. The
second half of the book is
dedicated to America’s
favorite meat, also with
numerous recipes. This
isn’t a book you’ll cook from
every day, but it sure will
get you thinking about
some lovely pairings.
How to Eataly
By Oscar Farinetti (and
a host of big-wig chefs)
Rizzoli, 2014
A cookbook inspired by a
chain of Italian food halls?
Doesn’t exactly scream out
to me. But my assumption
that it would be either a
glorified advertisement for
Eataly or an ode to all
things Batali (as in Mario)
and Bastianich (as in Joe
and Lidia) — the guiding
forces behind the halls —
was wrong. It’s actually a
quite nice guide to how to
buy and cook Italian food,
with a heft of respectable
recipes tossed in.
Again, not a book you’ll
cook from regularly. But a
lovely book for lovers of
Italian food to salivate
over.
J.M. Hirsch is The AP’s food editor.
Give blood.
To schedule a blood donation
call 1-800-G IVE-LIFE
or visit HelpSaveALife.org.
kph (186 mph). By average speed, China has the fastest
train in the world, averaging 284 kph (176 mph) on a route
between Shijiazhuang and Zhengshou Dong, according to
a biennial World Speed Survey by the Railway Gazette.
Europe, Asia, but not the U.S.
The Shinkansen renewed interest in high-speed rail
elsewhere, notably in Europe. France and Spain are
among the leaders in Europe, and Turkey last year
became the ninth country to operate a train at an average
speed of 200 kph (124 mph), according to the Railway
Gazette. South Korea and Taiwan also operate high-speed
systems in Asia. The United States is an exception,
though there are proposals to build lines in California and
Texas. The fastest train in the U.S., Amtrak’s Acela
Express, averages 169 kph (105 mph) on a short stretch
between Baltimore and Wilmington, Delaware, the speed
survey says.
What’s next
What’s next? Magnetic levitation. Shanghai launched a
German-built maglev train in 2004 on a 30-kilometer
route between the city and the airport. It can hit 430 kph
(267 mph). A Japanese maglev train in development has
topped 500 kph (310 mph) in tests. If built, it could reduce
the travel time between Tokyo and Osaka to just over one
hour. With speed, though, some of the romance is lost. A
faster Shinkansen has eliminated its dining car. “The
problem is that Japan is such a small country,” said Araki,
the retired engineer. “If you go too fast, you’ll get there in
no time. No time to enjoy an onboard meal.”
Associated Press writer Noriko
Kitano contributed to this report.