The Shinkansen, a bullet train, began operations on October 1st 1964, nine days before the opening ceremony of the Tokyo Olympics. The Tokaido Shinkansen connects three major metropolitan areas in Japan: Tokyo, Nagoya and Osaka. The first bullet train ran at 210 km per hour and attracted attention as the fastest train in the world. Along with Japan’s high-speed economic growth and Olympic boom, it embodied Japan’s hope for future business development. Now its maximum speed on scheduled journeys is 320 km per hour, the same speed as the TGV-LGV in France. There are four classes of carriage on Shinkansen: the standard carriage (which includes non-reserved and reserved seats), the green carriage, and the grand class carriage.
