Railways

The railroad in Japan is the focus of a great deal of romanticism. Children can frequently be found taking snap shots of their favorite trains, especially the rare ones, while adults travel further afield to do the same or simply to ride the rails in the more inaccessible parts of the train system. Much of… [Read more]

Trains came to Japan late and like many technological advances railways arrived after being well developed elsewhere. This allowed the Japanese to begin building in the 1870s with a good view of the technological choices they needed to make. Early railroads were constructed by the government which decided on a standard gauge; henceforth, the government’s… [Read more]

The Japanese government correctly perceived at an early date that a good railway system would be beneficial to the economy. The first small railway ran from Tokyo to Yokohama in 1872, but gradually the system was extended until it connected Nagoya, Kyoto, Osaka, and Kobe, the main cities of the center of Japan. Soon freight… [Read more]