Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Japan counterpart Shinzo Abe in front of a Shinkansen bullet train in November 2016. In 2014, Japan celebrated 50 years of the Shinkansen. The first-ever commercial journey of a Japanese bullet train took place on 1 October 1964, when a Hikari No.1 model train left Tokyo for Osaka on the Tokeido Shinkansen line. When considering the success of the Japanese Shinkansen, it is worth thinking about the role these wartime legacies had in its success. It makes you wonder, how different the legend of the Shinkansen would have been had wartime investments played out differently.

Source: Mint September 15, 2017 02:03 UTC