Travelling by train in Japan

By kevin tembouret

Immerse yourself in the fascinating history of Japanese trains, from their humble beginnings to their meteoric evolution over the decades. Understand how the rail network has shaped human relationships, transformed the perception of time and created unique spaces of public life in stations and on trains.

Beyond their history, discover culinary experiences in atypical carriages or themed restaurants, with talented chefs offering refined culinary experiences. The same goes for bentō and ekiben, the delicious packaged meals that have captured the hearts of travelers.

Dive into the world of original tourist trains too, such as the Monogatari trains or the POKEMON Train Kesennuma-go, which will take you on memorable journeys through breathtaking landscapes. Perhaps you're looking for something even more unusual? A train that turns into a bus, or bicycles on rails? For sure, Japan has something to surprise you when it comes to creating tourism concepts.

In addition to all this, this book aims to enlighten you on the different types of trains that run on Japanese rails (urban, express, semi-express, ...) and to tell you about the legendary Shinkansen, that high-speed iron monster. You'll be able to travel with peace of mind in Japan, in an environmentally-friendly way and with a knowledge of the customs and habits (including the hidden rules of a certain Shinkansen carriage), by boarding the vehicle that suits your needs. Yes, a single train can offer several services! And therefore may or may not serve certain stops.

Whether you're a train enthusiast, a food lover or a traveler in search of authentic experiences, this guide will take you on an unforgettable journey aboard some surprising Japanese trains.

• Language: English
• Publisher: kevin tembouret
• Release date: Jun 25, 2023
• ISBN: 9798223956471

Book preview

The history of railroads in Japan

日本の鉄道の歴史

Trains before Japan

British origins and the expansion of steam locomotives

The Japanese train, now renowned the world over, is the offspring of the British industrial revolution of the 1830s.

Invented in 1825 by the Englishman Stephenson, steam locomotives enabled great technological advances and ushered in a new era. It was motive power that moved the industrial revolution from its first phase, which had begun with the textile industry, to a second phase, involving the exploitation of iron and coal. Railroads became widespread in Europe and the United States, as well as in the colonies of the time, and then throughout the world during the 19th century.

Between 1825 and 1830, the transport of raw materials to factories was facilitated, as was the sale of products and goods throughout Japan. Locomotives gradually replaced horse-drawn transport. One thing led to another, and coal became a popular source of fuel, accelerating the need for railroads. The year 1827 saw the arrival of the first rails for American locomotives.

In 1830, the first passenger railroad became official. Its success led to rapid expansion, notably in Germany and Belgium from 1835. It wasn't until 1837 that it appeared in Russia, then 1840 in France. The railway boom spread throughout Great Britain in the 1840s. Iron roads, which crossed countries and continents, transformed landscapes and cultures.

Forests populated by folk creatures were razed, gigantic stations, dykes, bridges and other necessary infrastructure were built. More than a revolution, the steam monsters transformed our relationship with the world.

Gnome watching the train

Carl Spitzweg (1848)

Between 1836 and 1837, the British Parliament authorized the construction of over 1,500 miles of railroad. But this great step into the future raised a number of problems: how could the existing economy be maintained? What will become of stagecoach drivers? What was to become of the owners of the toll roads and all those who owned freight routes? But progress prevailed over these thorny questions, and the train found its place in the hearts of the English, through a variety of levers: bringing the countryside and towns closer together, facilitating human travel, new jobs, product diversity, etc. This was followed by a new awareness of time, shaped by timetables. Time is time! After the hour, the train's gone. The perception of distances in relation to time has also evolved: we no longer speak in miles per hour, but in tens of miles per hour.

In addition to its societal and industrial aspects, the train accelerated British imperialism with the completion of the transcontinental railroad to the Pacific and Indian colonies in 1869. Other countries did the same: Russia built the Trans-Siberian Railway to expand into East Asia, Germany built the Baghdad Railway, and so on.

Japan inherited concessions from Russia during the Russo-Japanese War and created the Minami-manshū Tetsudō (南満州鉄道), the Manchurian Railway, which became an anchor for Japanese control of this region.

The imperialist powers also granted their subordinate countries the right to build railways, as witnessed by the construction of the Chinese railroads, as well as the right to mine in their spheres of influence. Nevertheless, as ethnic capital developed, railroad management rights were gradually transferred to the imperialists.

The history of these long metal roads is rich and varied: the Orient Express, the construction of the American transcontinental railroad, the two world wars ... And even the invention of puffed potatoes (to be discovered in the book Hexagone, by Lorànt Deutsch ).  As you can imagine, we can't cover all these points in a book whose main subject is the Japanese train, but let's take a detour into history to look at the railroads themselves.

Track width

Let's talk about the gauge of the Stockton-Darlington and Manchester-Liverpool railroads in the UK, which was 4 feet 8½ inches. This spacing corresponded not only to the axle width of the steam locomotives built by Stevenson, but also to the rail width of the carts used to transport goods at the time. The gauge of the wagon rails seems to have been originally that of Roman two-horse chariots. So, even centuries later, one thing can still influence another!

In the past, however, British railroads were all privately owned, and track widths were not always uniform. It was through the amalgamation of railway companies that gauge gradually became standardized at 4 feet 8½ inches. All railroads built since then tend to have standard gauge, and existing rails have also been rebuilt to facilitate transport across the country or region.

However, there are two other standards, apart from the one just mentioned, known as wide gauge and narrow gauge. Most Japanese railroads are narrow gauge; only the Shinkansen (Japan's fastest train) is considered wide gauge.

For the record, as railroads spread around the world, different routes were adopted for reasons generally related to the states themselves. This wasn't a problem at first, when each railroad connected only loading and unloading points, but the transit of goods from one country to another became complicated when political conflicts arose.

Yuichi Inoue, author of Track Gauge Changed Modern History (1990), points out that the train runs with the power of the state on board.  To illustrate this quotation, let's take an example totally related to the book you're reading: during the Russo-Japanese War, Japan voluntarily changed the gauge of the railroads in Eastern Manchuria to narrow gauge, then rebuilt them to standard gauge after the conflict. A logistical and political strategy that did not go unnoticed by the enemy.

Train development in Japan

Now that we've got the basics down, let's talk about Japan.

According to railroad historian Harada Katsumasa (原田勝正), the Edo shogunate (military government of the Edo period) obtained information on international affairs through the Netherlands. This information included a great deal on railroad construction in Western countries. There were also Dutch writings explaining the principles and structure of steam locomotives, which Japan could obtain fairly easily. This meant that, although limited to a very small group of well-informed people, the Japanese were very early aware that the world of transportation was evolving.

The first Japanese to ride the railroads would be John Manjiro (ジョン万次郎. Real name Nakahama Manjiro (中浜万次郎), a simple fisherman from Tosa province. It's said that his boat got lost at sea, then he and his friends were stranded on a deserted island. He was rescued by an American whaler and studied English, mathematics, surveying, navigation and shipbuilding techniques in America in the 1840s. On his return to Japan in 1851, he informed the Satsuma clan of the existence of the steam-powered Reiroo (Railroad in Japanese phonetics, railway - レイロヲ).

John Manjiro / Nakahama Manjiro

ジョン万次郎 / 中浜万次郎

Portrait

1880

Japanese railroads made their first appearance with the opening of the Shinbashi-Yokohama line in 1872, then spread throughout the country until the end of the Meiji era (1868 - 1912).

During the Taishō period (1912 - 1926), the railway sector developed rapidly, in parallel with the boom in the Japanese economy after the First World War. In 1919, the Japanese Empire created the Ministry of Railways. During this period, railway technology also reached international standards, with the adoption of pneumatic brakes, domestic production and the construction of long tunnels.

The Shōwa period (1926-1989), marked by the advent of the automobile, did not prevent the development of trains. In the early years of this historically unprecedented period, services were improved with the creation of express lines, and trains were added in the suburbs as a result of urbanization. During the Japanese Empire's expansion into China, rail transport was integrated into the war system and developed outside Japan.  Meanwhile, in 1941, Tōkyō's four