Japan is a land of tradition. It's a country where ancient customs are revered. But Japan also has
a long history of embracing cutting-edge ideas and technologies. Like toilets that
shoot water directly at your scrotum and vending machines that sell… well, yeah.
That's a bit of a contradiction, isn't it? How can a country that's so deeply rooted in tradition
be one of the most technologically advanced on earth? Well, the truth is that Japan's evolution
from a feudal society, as recently as the 19th century, to a global economic powerhouse come
the 20th century, is actually one of the most remarkable stories in human history.
If you need an example of how eagerly Japan can embrace a technology when it
wants to - look no further than the digital camera, although an American invention,
Japan quickly “snap”-ped it up and monopolised the market the likes of which I don’t think I’ve seen
in any other consumer tech product. Sony - Japanese, Canon - Japanese,
Nikon - Japanese, Fujifilm - Japanese, Panasonic - Japanese, Olympus - Japanese,
Pentax - Japanese. Anyway, you get the picture - sorry. Although, arguably Japan’s technologic
export game peaked in 1958 when they invented instant ramen. Oodles of noodles, in a cup,
in an instant … screw the digital camera, that’s the pinnacle of human achievement right there.
And all this from Japan. A country that only opened its doors to the outside world in 1853,
at about the same time steam trains were first gaining traction in Britain. Just a quick warning
that this is going to be a difficult video for me, it’s all about a technology that we invented then
decided to be so crap at it come the 21st century that almost everyone else now does it better.
Anyway, what was it that suddenly catapulted the tiny island nation of Japan from a feudal
society to a technological superpower, seemingly overnight? The answer is simple: a revolution. A
revolution catalysed by a single technology that changed everything. A technology that,
in the space of a few decades, broke down seemingly insurmountable barriers
and connected what were previously out-of-reach intellectual minds and financial hubs. The result?
Japan exploded, humbly making a mockery of the rest of the world in the process.
This is the fascinating story of the Shinkansen - the Japanese bullet train.
The opening of Japan's first railway line in 1872 represented a welcome sign of progress,
but the trains were slow and unreliable, and the steam engine frequently broke down,
leaving passengers stranded for hours at a time.
As Japan grew in the first half of the 20th century, more and more railway lines were
built. But the issues that plagued the first trains stuck around. By the 1950s, the average
speed of a Japanese train was a paltry 36 miles an hour, and it wasn't uncommon for a trip from
Tokyo to Osaka - a distance of just 300 miles - to take over 7 hours. And the infrastructure made no
sense either - tracks often followed the winding course of rivers rather than the shortest distance
between two cities, meaning trains were constantly slowing down to weave their way around bends.
By this point, the first cars and aeroplanes had already arrived in Japan,
and overnight the populace came to favour them over sluggish trains. However, in 1958,
the country was preparing to host the Olympic games and Japan was keen to show the world
that it had evolved significantly since the end of the Second World War and was now a
modern nation capable of hosting the most prestigious sporting event on the planet.
But their embarrassing rail system didn’t exactly shout “progress”, so in 1959,
the Japanese government solidified plans for the first ever high-speed railway line. The project
would cost more than Jeff Bezos’ divorce - actually nothing costs that much - but
at an estimated $200 billion Yen (about £1 billion), it would be pricey. However the
government was willing to spend big. This was about more than just getting people from A to
B - this was a statement - a reaffirmation to the world that, yes, Japan had been defeated,
but was now ready to rise again from the ashes as a phoenix, a sexy metal train-shaped phoenix.
But to pull this off the Shinkansen engineers would have to innovate in quite a few ways.
For a start, unlike other train systems, which often shared tracks with slower local trains,
the Shinkansen would operate on its own dedicated routes. Moreover, these tracks
were engineered with banked turns, allowing the train to maintain its blistering speeds even
through curves. They weren't building a railway, they were building a Goddamn rollercoaster.
To enhance the smoothness of the ride, the tracks employed continuous welded rails.
Traditionally tracks were short segments bolted together, which incidentally is the primary cause
of the all-too-familiar "click-clack" noise. The Shinkansen's seamless tracks meant less friction,
which meant higher speeds and less maintenance. And when your entire country is prone to sporadic
Godzilla attacks, having to fix stuff less often is a Godsend. To ensure the Shinkansen would be
stable at such high speeds it was necessary for the existing Cape Gauge tracks (at 3ft 6
inches wide) to be beefed up to what we now call “Standard” Gauge (at a girthy 4 ft 8.5 inches).
Level crossings were eliminated too - bridges were utilised frequently
along the routes so cars don’t have to slow down for trains and vice-versa.
Rather than coil springs the Shinkansen used a revolutionary air-spring suspension system to
increase comfort and stability. And, of course, the Shinkansen was given an iconically massive
pointy nose. It looked like pure science-fiction in the 60s, and it was a hallmark of aerodynamic
design, meticulously crafted to minimise air resistance and to suppress “tunnel
boom” - the loud booming noise created when a train enters a tunnel at high velocity.
They even created a special diagnostics train,
nicknamed “Doctor Yellow” - this bright yellow rolling stock is equipped with special sensors
to monitor the condition of the tracks below and the overhead wires. All so that
faults in the network can be detected as quickly and efficiently as possible.
And all these efforts paid off. The fastest steam train in Japan
at the time topped out at 60 mph, and the first Shinkansen railway - now
known as the Tokaido line - had a top speed of 130 mph, more than double.
That may not sound particularly fast by today's standards, but it was a game changer for the
people of Japan. It slashed the average journey time from Tokyo to Osaka to just 4 hours. We've
got a train that takes longer than that in England and it only goes to fucking Wigan.
Then in 1975 the Sanyo Shinkansen extension line was built, connecting Tokyo all the way to
Fukuoka - you could now go from Fucking Fukuoka to Tokyo - a distance of 680 miles, in just 5 hours,
without changing trains - the people of Fukuoka thought this was Fuckoak-ing brilliant.
The success of the Shinkansen wasn't just due to the massive reduction in journey times. They
were also remarkably reliable - something that couldn't be said for their conventional cousins.
A railway line is like a choose your own adventure book - every few miles there's a point where the
trains can go one way or the other. And, just like in a choose your own adventure book,
making the wrong choice can be the difference between getting to work on
time or ending up naked in a swamp with your ear being mauled by a horny otter.
If a train passes a junction and follows the wrong track, the driver can't simply pull a
U-turn. The train will have to keep going until it reaches the next station, at which point it can
change tracks and go back the way it came. These “schedule deviations” can add hours to a journey.
In order to avoid schedule deviations, which were plaguing conventional train lines,
the Shinkansen were equipped with an automated system called Centralised Traffic Control
that allowed them to seamlessly navigate even the most complex junctions without
having to slow down. Together with a second automated safety system,
called Automatic Train Control (ATC), also developed for the Shinkansen,
the system could automatically slow down any train on the network depending on the speed of
the trains ahead or behind it and intervene if a driver fails to respond to hazards in time.
Contrary to popular belief, the original Shinkansen trains never actually levitated. That
requires something called maglev technology, which has only been employed in real-life sporadically
over the years, usually for very short journeys, like airport shuttles. Most notably the Shanghai
maglev was opened in 2004, offering top speeds of 270 mph. Although the Shanghai maglev is
completely bloody useless - it only covers a distance of 19 miles, over 7 and a half minutes,
which means by the time it reaches full speed in the middle of its journey, it has to start
slowing down again. As a result it averages a speed of 155 mph, slower than a non-maglev
high-speed train. I guess this is what happens when a country has too much disposable income.
Despite not levitating, the original Shinkansen trains were designed specifically to minimise
friction and vibration in every way. So they could glide along the tracks like Usain Bolt
with a greased up arse. Even though the trains were travelling at 130 mph, you could balance
a coin on its edge and it wouldn't fall over. Passengers could place cups of tea on the window
ledges in the knowledge they wouldn't spill. This might seem rather mundane to us today,
but back in the 60s, it was as if the laws of physics had been rewritten.
Construction of the Shinkansen network was rapid. Now there are 9 individual but interconnected
shinkansen lines, and counting. Connecting the entire country, all the way from Sapporo in the
North, to Kagoshima in the South. With the fastest train in Japan now cruising at a speedy 200 mph.
Today, the average delay for a Shinkansen train is less than one minute,
and that includes delays caused by natural disasters! To put that in perspective,
a British train being delayed by less than one minute is rarer than seeing a
unicorn shitting gold coins, inside a Wetherspoons. And that’s because
our trains are so old that the tracks are made from the bones of Victorian children.
Speaking of natural disasters - Shinkansen lines are fitted with earthquake detection
systems which can automatically cut power to trains if early warning
signs are detected of a potentially dangerous earthquake. Which is nice to know, I guess.
The implications of the Shinkansen went beyond convenience. Economically,
cities that were connected by the Shinkansen experienced unprecedented growth, from Osaka
to Nagoya to Hiroshima. It was like a game of Monopoly where everyone wins and you don’t
spend four hours threatening to murder your family for not selling you Mayfair.
Furthermore, the Shinkansen revolutionised the way people lived and worked. Families no longer had
to be uprooted for job opportunities. Someone could work in Tokyo but choose to live in a
quieter city like Shizuoka and commute daily. Such a concept was unthinkable before the Shinkansen.
But the effects rippled around the globe. Japan took a billion-pound-gamble and
pretty much placed it all on a single train system. And boy did it pay off,
transforming it from a broken post-war economy to being the third richest country on the freaking
planet. And that’s enough to make all the other countries stand up and take notice. The Shinkansen
success story inspired the construction of similar high-speed rail systems like the TGV in France,
the AVE in Spain, Germany’s ICE and many more three-letter-acronym-inclined-nations.
But it can be argued that none have managed to emulate the success of the Shinkansen. You see,
there are now faster trains out there. But speed was never the primary goal
of Shinkansen’s design - it was capacity. It was designed to move large numbers of
people quickly - this is a country with 125 million people and the world’s largest city.
And today during peak times a high speed train departs from Tokyo every 3 minutes.
Every single day about a quarter of a million people ride the Shinkansen in Japan. Also,
after 50 years of operation and over 10 billion passengers, the Shinkansen has
never had a single fatal accident - officially making it the world’s safest train system.
And now, Japan is looking to the future, as they always have done. New lines are being
developed using superconducting maglev technology - like in Shanghai - which promises speeds of up
to 310 mph. When complete the Chūō Shinkansen will be the longest maglev route in the world,
and a trip from Tokyo to Osaka will take a breathtaking 67 minutes.
The primary driving force behind the inception of the first Shinkansen was a humble engineer,
Hideo Shima, an employee of Japanese National Railways, who was intensely passionate about
the future of trains and their core role in public mass transit - he had a vision,
and fortunately his government listened. So, you see, the Shinkansen was never just a train,
and it was never about speed, or world-leading safety, or having shiny new toys to show off. It
was a symbol of Japan's resilience, innovation, and vision. It was about saying - this is what’s
possible when government funds are put into projects that make sense for and
directly benefit the people, rather than vanity projects designed to win elections. Personally,
I think most countries can learn a lesson or two from this humble electric train. Because
the ‘Bullet Train’ well and truly shot Japan into the 21st century and beyond.