Shinkansen
Also called: Bullet train · Topic: Paths to Modernisation: Japan, China, Korea · NCERT: Class 11, Ch 7 "Paths to Modernisation"
Meaning
The Shinkansen is Japan's network of high-speed "bullet trains". The first line opened in 1964 and joined Tokyo and Osaka. It is a symbol of Japan's recovery after the Second World War. It showed that Japan had become a leading technological power.
Example
The Shinkansen started running in 1964, the same year Tokyo hosted the Olympic Games, the first held in Asia. Together these two events marked Japan's return to the world stage.
Don't confuse with
- Tokyo–Yokohama railway (1870–72): Japan's first railway, built in the Meiji period. The Shinkansen is the high-speed network that came almost a century later.
Related concepts
- Hiroshima and Nagasaki
- US Occupation of Japan
- Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution
- Japanese post-war economic miracle
- Minamata disease