The image of the shinkansen or ‘bullet train’ passing Mount Fuji is one of the most renowned images of modern Japan. Yet, despite its international reputation for speed and punctuality, little is understood about what makes it work so well and what its impact is. Since 2000 I have been conducting research on the shinkansen – its development, what other countries can learn from it, and the symbolism of it. My first book based on this research is Shinkansen: From Bullet Train to Symbol of Modern Japan.
I continue to do research about the shinkansen, particularly looking at what can be learnt from looking at the external design of the train, as discussed in Japan: The Basics and also my chapter in a book on Contents Tourism in Japan, and also its impact upon local regions and depopulation. I have also used my many trips on the shinkansen as the basis for one of my novels, Hijacking Japan. You can find posts of mine related to the shinkansen here.
As a result of my research about the shinkansen, I have featured in TV documentaries such as ‘Trains That Changed The World‘ (Episode 4 – Metal Monsters, Episode 6 – SuperTrains) which was first shown on the channel Yesterday in November 2018.
Here are links to some of my other posts related to the shinkansen:
- Information about my research on the shinkansen
- Shinkansen: From Bullet Train to Symbol of Modern Japan
- The Shinkansen’s Local Impact
- An article about the relationship between the shinkansen and politics
- Hijacking Japan – one of my novels, set partly on a shinkansen
- Interview for the Compounding Curiosity Podcast
- Why Do Japanese Trains
- The Future of the Shinkansen
- I also discuss the shinkansen in my book Japan: The Basics and my chapter about Contents Tourism and planes
- Fast Women: The Shinkansen and the Changing Japanese Gender Roles
- Trains That Changed The World – a TV documentary that I appeared in
- I have also done posts about each of the main shinkansen in a series called ‘my favourite shinkansen‘. Here they are listed in numeric/alphabetical order, you will need to go through the posts to discover where they ranked.
- 0 series
- 100 series
- 200 series
- 300 series
- 400 series
- 500 series
- 700 series
- 800 series
- E1 series
- E2 series
- E3 series
- E4 series
- E5/H5 series
- E6 series
- E7/W7 series
- N700 series (including N700A and N700s variants)
- I have also done a series of posts giving tips about how to photograph the shinkansen at locations around Japan:
- Photographing the Shinkansen: Atami
- Photographing the Shinkansen: Fuji
- Photographing the Shinkansen: Fukuyama and Tokuyama
- Photographing the Shinkansen: Gifu-Hashima
- Photographing the Shinkansen: Hakata-Minami
- Photographing the Shinkansen: Hamamatsu Station
- Photographing the Shinkansen: Higashi-Hiroshima
- Photographing the Shinkansen: The Hokuriku Shinkansen
- Photographing the Shinkansen: Kakegawa
- Photographing the Shinkansen: Lake Hamana
- Photographing the Shinkansen: Maibara
- Photographing the Shinkansen: Mishima Station
- Photographing the Shinkansen: In and Around Morioka
- Photographing the Shinkansen: Near Odawara
- Photographing the Shinkansen: Okayama
- Photographing the Shinkansen: Shin-Kobe Station
- Photographing the Shinkansen: Shizuoka Station
- Photographing the Shinkansen: Takasaki
- Photographing the Shinkansen: Tōhoku Shinkansen in Kantō
- Photographing the Shinkansen: Tokuyama Station
- Photographing the Shinkansen: Toyohashi Station
- Photographing the Shinkansen: Urasa
- Lucky Photography: East-i
- Lucky Photography – Dr Yellow
- Travelling on Dr Yellow
- One of my favourite shinkansen trips
- Some JR Pass Experiences
- Favourite Photos: A Shinkansen Passing Mount Fuji (Photo in “Japan: The Basics” (2nd Edition))
- Favourite Photos: Omotenashi (Photo in “Japan: The Basics” (2nd Edition))
- Favourite Photos: Hello Kitty Shinkansen (Photo in “Japan: The Basics” (2nd Edition))
- Hello Kitty Shinkansen Food Motifs (Photo in “Japan: The Basics” (2nd Edition))
- Differing Languages on the Railways – Tokaido Shinkansen (Photo in “Japan: The Basics” (2nd Edition))
- Differing Languages on the Railways – Tohoku Shinkansen (Photo in “Japan: The Basics” (2nd Edition))
Christopher P. Hood 
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