It was time to leave Osaka and explore a new region so off to the bullet train or Shinkansen Station I go! My next destination – Kyoto, Japan’s old capital.
The ease and speed of these super fast trains have made the commuting of many Japanese to different areas of Japan to work on a daily basis possible. The Japanese are extremely proud of their bullet trains and how it has never broken down or been late for even a minute since it opened in 1964. The building of such advance technology, gave many Japanese hope and confidence in their nation especially after they had lost in WWII.
Although the bullet train is said to have zero delay records, there actually has been 2 incidents that happened to the bullet train with no fault to the train system itself. The first incident was a huge earthquake that derailed the bullet train but no one died. The second incident was a case of suicide. Any news regarding the bullet train is national news and the suicide case was viewed with huge regret by the entire nation with many disapproving of the guy’s choice of death.
I’m sure you know that Japan being such a fast paced and high pressured society has a rather high rate of suicides. And jumping in front of trains are their preferred choice of death. When the person dies, their family members have to take up the responsibility of footing the bill for the clean up and the costs of any delay involved with the trains. Given that there are many different train companies running different lines at different prices, it is naturally expected that the cheapest train line has the most delays due to suicide attempts and the most expensive train line being the bullet train has a record of only one. To clean up after someone had jumped in front of a train takes a mere 15 mins which shows their efficiency even in such matters.
I don’t mean to offend anyone or suggest killing yourself but I just found this tidbit of information rather interesting.