Why was the 1964 bullet train a symbol of a new Japan?

Because it was timed to open with the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, Games that celebrated Japan's progress and reemergence on the world stage less than 20 years after the war. The Tōkaidō Shinkansen, the first bullet train line and then the fastest train in the world, opened just before the Games and connected the four largest cities in Japan: Tokyo, Yokohama, Nagoya and Osaka.

The numbers made the point. Before it, the best conventional limited express took about 6 hours and 40 minutes between Tokyo and Osaka. The new Hikari service did the trip in four hours, and as speeds rose to 220 km/h, in three hours ten minutes. Same-day travel between Japan's two largest metropolitan areas became possible, which changed business practices and daily life.

The idea was not obvious at the time. In the 1950s prevailing opinion in Japan held that railways would soon become obsolete, following the American shift toward air travel and highways. Shinji Sogō, president of Japanese National Railways, argued the opposite, and Hideo Shima, the chief engineer, led the technical work. Other key engineers all had prior experience in aircraft design during World War II.

The project cost far more than planned: about 380 billion yen against an initial estimate of nearly 200 billion. When the shortfall became clear in 1963, Sogō resigned to take responsibility. It was an immediate success, carrying 100 million passengers within three years.

Its record for reliability became part of the symbol. In 2016 JR Central reported an average delay of 24 seconds per train.