Previously, I wrote about the relationship between “Japanese history” and railroads. As a follow-up to that, I’d like to focus this time on the little bits of “history” found in the train cars and station facilities that we usually take for granted.
Various Aspects of Shinkansen Construction
The history of railroads is a topic limited to the specific industry of railroads. That said, it is also an element of the broader history of society and industry. To begin with, I will introduce a few examples related to the construction of the Shinkansen.
From the Central Transfer Ticket Gate at Tokyo Station—located just past the site of Prime Minister Hamaguchi’s assassination—enter the concourse inside the Tokaido Shinkansen platform area and proceed down the passageway to the end. There, the stairs and escalators leading up to Platforms 18 and 19 branch off to the left and right.
On that wall, between the departure boards installed side by side, there is a plaque—known to those in the know—that reads, “Tōkaidō Shinkansen: This railway was completed through the wisdom and efforts of the Japanese people.”
Also, if you take the stairs on the right from there and walk along the platform, you’ll find the “Tokyo Station Shinkansen Memorial” at the southern end of Platforms 18 and 19. Erected in 1973—nine years after the Tokaido Shinkansen began operations—the monument features an embedded relief of Shinji Sogo, the fourth president of the Japanese National Railways, who was instrumental in the construction of the Tokaido Shinkansen.
Tokyo Station is the starting point of the Tokaido Shinkansen line, and there are reliefs on the floors of platforms 16 and 17, as well as platforms 18 and 19, indicating this. Incidentally, since there is a concession stand in exactly the same spot on Platform 14, there is no relief on the floor there.
Although this relief simply says “Shinkansen,” it’s not particularly strange, since when the Tokaido Shinkansen first opened, “Shinkansen” was synonymous with the Tokaido Shinkansen.
On the Tohoku Shinkansen as well, tiles indicating the starting point are embedded in the floor on both Platforms 20–21 and Platforms 22–23. They can be hard to see when it’s crowded, but they should be easy to spot when there aren’t many people around.
In addition, at some stations along the so-called “Shinkansen expansion lines,” there are plaques installed by the Japan Railway Construction Public Corporation, which was involved in the construction, or by the Japan Railway Construction and Transport Facilities Support Organization (JRTT). Specific examples include the plaques installed at Nagano Station and Nagasaki Station.
Another unusual feature is a plaque at the end of the platform (the dead-end section facing the ocean) at Nagasaki Station on the West Kyushu Shinkansen that reads, “Japan’s Westernmost Shinkansen Station.”
© Source travel watch