Japanischer Hochgeschwindigkeitszug/Shinkansen
Shinkansen embodied the hope of Japan's high-speed economic boom
The Shinkansen, a bullet train, began operations on October 1st 1964, nine days before the opening ceremony of the Tokyo Olympics. The Tokaido Shinkansen connects three major metropolitan areas in Japan: Tokyo, Nagoya and Osaka. The first bullet train ran at 210 km per hour and attracted attention as the fastest train in the world. Along with Japan's high-speed economic growth and Olympic boom, it embodied Japan's hope for future business development. Now its maximum speed on scheduled journeys is 320 km per hour, the same speed as the TGV-LGV in France.
Let’s ride a Shinkansen.
There are four classes of carriage on Shinkansen: the standard carriage (which includes non-reserved and reserved seats), the green carriage, and the grand class carriage.
Standard carriage: You can ride a bullet train without a reservation in a non-reserved seat, or you may stand. However, Hayate and Komachi trains on the Tohoku Shinkansen service only have reserved seats. Nozomi trains on the Tokaido Shin
Green carriage: The seats are very wide and comfortable and each has a footrest. These carriages have a free drink service. There aren't many green carriages so seats tend to be fully booked on holidays and weekends.
Grand Class carriage: There are Grand Class carriages on Hayabusa, Hayate, Yamabiko and Nasuno trains on the Tohoku Shinkansen. A Grand Class carriage has only three seats per row. You can recline these leather sofas electronically to 45 degrees. They serve light meals and drinks, including some alcohol, for free.
All Shinkansen have a service room with seats. They are suitable for feeding babies, and provide easy access for the disabled and so on. Anybody can use this private room without a reservation.
Who designs Shinkansen?
There are some well known Shinkansen designers, such as Alexander Neumeister, who designed the 500 series and is also famous for his work on the ICE in Germany. Eiji Mitooka was the design adviser for the JR Kyushu 800 series, Kiyoyuki Okuyama is famous for supervising the design of the E6 series as well as the Enzo Ferrari, and Tetsuo Fukuda designed the N700 series. The uniquestreamlined form of the Shinkansen aims to enhance the function by minimizing noise among other things. These days JR and industrial-design companies work together to design many Shinkansen.
The entire route of the Hokuriku Shinkansen linking Tokyo to Kanazawa via Toyama will open for business on March 15, 2015.
The fastest express train on the line, the "Kagayaki," will connect Tokyo and Kanazawa in two hours and 28 minutes.
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