Studies of the Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University. Redwood, CA: Stanford University Press, 2022. ix, 289 pp. (Map, B&W photos.) US$28.00, paper. ISBN 9781503629943.
The Shinkansen—what a great topic! Many of us have ridden it, marvelled at the turnaround cleaning crews and on-time departures, admired the beauty of the white dart swishing through the picture of Mt. Fuji, and wondered what it is about trains and Japan. In this book, Jessamyn Abel explores the larger meaning of the first line of Shinkansen for Japan in the 1960s. This line ran along the Tokaido from Tokyo to Osaka, and impacted Japan greatly in terms of local politics, infrastructure rebuilding, urban planning and architecture, aspirations for an “information society,” nostalgia, and international status and self-identity.
In addition to an introduction and conclusion, the book is organized into five chapters, one on each of these topics. It begins with the case study of Kyoto, which initially was not included in the line. We learn how local politicians on all sides rallied to shame Japan Railways (JR) and the central government into including what was not only the ancient capital but also Japan’s main tourist attraction at the time, since it had been left largely intact during WWII. “Global Kyoto” became the rallying cry for the line’s kink that still both benefits and slows all of us down today.
Chapter 2, “Reconstructing the Tokaido,” addresses how the “white snake” changed landscapes and cities. The layering of cities—exemplified by the labyrinth beneath Tokyo Station and the many restaurants under the tracks in Yūrakuchō—has its roots in the necessity of stacking train lines on top of each other. The New Yokohama and New Osaka stations, meanwhile, were built in the middle of rice paddies to allow for future urban expansion, while other locations were determined by terrain, such as in Gifu. Tunnels, too, loom large in this chapter, with a view on both the technological feat of building them and their destruction of landscapes and nature.
Chapter 3 puts the Shinkansen in the context of Japan’s aspirations for the jōhō-shakai, the information society, a concept that began to circulate in the late 1950s in Boston at MIT and was swallowed in Japan hook, line, and sinker under the label of “cybernetics.” The true extent of the train’s technology innovations could perhaps have been showcased more here, or how the super-express was only one of several technologies that Japan pushed forward at the time, such as mechatronics or C&C (computers and communications). But this book is a cultural history, so the chapter focuses instead on how the vision of the information society interacted with Kenzo Tange’s “Metabolism School” in architecture, and his visions for urbanization and city evolution. Abel weaves us through how Tange’s conceptualizations impacted Tanaka Kakuei’s 1972 plan of rebuilding the Japanese archipelago, all towards the goal of positioning Japan as a leading information society. The Shinkansen would do both: take Japan there by connecting cities and also be the ultimate sign of this accomplishment.
Chapter 4, “Nostalgia for Imperial Japan,” leads us back to the Manchurian Railways of the 1930s, to underscore that the notion of the train as a sign of technological triumph is no recent phenomenon (in fact, one could go back to the Meiji years for this). Tanaka and Tange resurface with their Manchuria connections, as do the tunnels as signs of power.
This all builds up to a vision of the Shinkansen as the symbol of Japan’s arrival as an advanced nation. Chapter 5, “Technology of Cultural Diplomacy,” puts the Shinkansen into its historical space and role. We are reminded of its coincidence not only with the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, but also the 1964–1965 New York Expo, and Japan’s entry onto the global trade scene, with memberships in the GATT and the OECD in 1964. We also learn that the train was enabled by a massive US$80 million World Bank development loan. Eventually, the Shinkansen became a symbol of Japan’s successful “catching up,” not just through exports of transistor radios and tiny cars, but by showing the United States what an advanced train system looks like. To boot, the new tech prowess also rattled existing notions of Japan as a country of geisha, teahouses, and woodprints, thus creating the marriage and juxtaposition of “old” and “new” Japan that has stayed with us ever since.
This book is not a recount of events, but rather an interpretation of the impact of the first Shinkansen on and for Japan in the early 1960s. It takes us on a fascinating excursion through movies, novels, architecture, and local politics, as well as the roots of Japan’s long-standing fascination with metabolism, information, and transportation.
As a business scholar I was surprised by the author’s attempts, early in the book, to downplay the technological feat that was the fastest train in the world. On several occasions, the Shinkansen train is belittled as “just another train,” when in fact it has become the global standard and technology base for fast trains—including, one notes, use of the colour white. Some readers may also be disappointed to learn little about the central government politics that enabled it all, or JR, the company that designed and orchestrated the train’s construction.
While some of this comes out in the final chapter, earlier chapters shine light mostly on the discontents: people unhappy they were bypassed, dislocated to make room for the tracks, dubious of the virtues of the information society, concerned about Tokyo’s centrality and control in this new society, or otherwise disadvantaged by the industrial elite. In fact, the core emphasis of this book is on elaborating these domestic contestations, and how the nation grappled to fall in love with the Shinkansen.
Upon reflection, I realize that I would have benefitted from reading it backwards, beginning with chapter 5, all the way down to chapter 1. Knowing the 1960s context of how the Super-Express shaped Japan’s self-identity and global image would have given me a deeper appreciation of the rich content of the earlier chapters. Overall, read in either direction, these chapters come together beautifully to shed a different and important light on Japan in the 1960s. An enjoyable ride.
Ulrike Schaede
University of California San Diego, San Diego