50 free Shinkansen trivia questions with answers — technology quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
This Shinkansen trivia quiz covers Japan's bullet trains from the opening run of October 1964 to the maglev that will one day link Tokyo and Nagoya in 40 minutes. The easy questions are the ones any visitor to Japan picks up: what the word means, which event the first line opened for, the fastest service on the Tokaido line and the network's astonishing safety record. From there it moves through the men who built it, the World Bank loan, the standard gauge decision, the 0 series and every generation since. The harder end is for railway enthusiasts: the Romancecar that gave engineers confidence, the wartime plan to run to Singapore, why the trains have such long noses, the bird that inspired the 500 series, what Doctor Yellow does, the two derailments in six decades, the seconds of average delay JR Central reported in 2016, and where outside Japan you can see a 0 series nose. Every answer was checked against encyclopaedia entries for the network, its lines and its rolling stock before publishing, and the supporting sentence is stored with each question. If you enjoy this one, try our Japan, Channel Tunnel and famous trains quizzes next.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01What does the Japanese word Shinkansen literally mean?
New main line
The English nickname bullet train translates dangan ressha, a name from 1939 planning documents.
Q 02The first Shinkansen line opened in October 1964, days before which event?
The Tokyo Summer Olympics
Service began on 1 October; the Games opened on 10 October.
Q 03Roughly how long is the original Tokaido Shinkansen route?
553 km
The 552.6 km route links Tokyo, Yokohama, Nagoya and Osaka, Japan's four largest cities.
Q 04How long did the Tokyo-Osaka journey take on conventional limited expresses before the Shinkansen opened?
About 6 hours 40 minutes
The first limited-stop services cut it to four hours; today's fastest trains do it in about two and a half.
Q 05At what top speed did the original 0 series trains run in 1964?
210 km/h
It was later raised to 220 km/h, cutting the fastest run to 3 hours 10 minutes.
Q 06How far apart are the rails on Shinkansen track, unlike most of Japan's railways?
1,435 mm (standard)
Japan's mountainous conventional network was built to 1,067 mm, which limits curve speeds.
Q 07Which JNR president championed the Shinkansen, then resigned in 1963 over cost overruns?
Shinji Sogō
He deliberately used a World Bank loan to make it politically impossible for the government to back out.
Q 08Who was the JNR chief engineer described as the driving force behind the first bullet train?
Hideo Shima
After leaving the railways he ran Japan's space agency, NASDA, from 1969 to 1977.
Q 09How much did the World Bank lend toward the first Shinkansen line?
US$80 million
The line was estimated at 200 billion yen but ended up costing about 380 billion.
Q 10Which private railway's 1957 Romancecar speed record convinced JNR a much faster train was feasible?
Odakyu
Its 3000 series SE hit 145 km/h during tests JNR arranged.
Q 11Early-1940s wartime plans envisaged extending the Shinkansen via Korea to which city?
Singapore
Three tunnels dug for the abandoned scheme were later used by the Tokaido Shinkansen.
Q 12How many passengers had the Tokaido Shinkansen carried by July 1967, under three years after opening?
100 million
It passed one billion in 1976 and has now topped 6.5 billion.
Q 13What is the fastest service category on the Tokaido and San'yo lines?
Nozomi
Its name means Wish or Hope; the all-stations local and limited-stop tiers sit below it.
Which limited-stop service cut the Tokyo-Osaka run to four hours when the line opened in 1964?
Q 21Which German industrial designer oversaw the design of the 500 series?
Alexander Neumeister
Only nine sets were built, each costing an estimated 5 billion yen.
Q 22Which anime franchise got its own 500 series livery in 2015 to mark the San'yo line's 40th anniversary?
Neon Genesis Evangelion
A Hello Kitty 500 series followed on the same line.
Q 23What is Doctor Yellow?
A track and wire inspection train
It inspects at full line speed and, in Japanese folklore, is lucky to spot.
Hikari
The all-stations Kodama took five hours; the name means Light.
Q 15The Nozomi's name was first used in 1934 for expresses from Busan to where?
Mukden
Mukden is now Shenyang; the service ran through Japanese-occupied Korea into Manchukuo.
Q 16What is the maximum operating speed on the fastest stretch of the network, the Tohoku Shinkansen?
320 km/h
A rise to 360 km/h is planned once the Hokkaido line reaches Sapporo in the late 2030s.
Q 17What speed record did the L0 series maglev set on the Yamanashi test line in April 2015?
603 km/h
Commercial Chuo Shinkansen service is planned at about 500 km/h.
Q 18How long is the maglev Chuo Shinkansen expected to take between Tokyo and Osaka?
67 minutes
Construction began in 2011; the Tokyo-Nagoya section is now not expected before 2034.
Q 19Why do modern Shinkansen trains have such long, elaborately streamlined noses?
To reduce tunnel boom
Japan's small-bore tunnels create explosive compression waves at the far portal, and noise rules are strict.
Q 20The nose of the 500 series was modelled on the beak of which bird?
Kingfisher
The biomimicry cut energy use by 15% and noise while raising speed by 10%.
Q 24How often did Doctor Yellow trains make the Tokyo-Hakata round trip before 2025?
Three times a month
JR Central announced in 2024 that it would retire its sets from the Tokaido line in January 2025; JR West's sets were due to follow by 2027.
Q 25What was JR Central's reported average delay per Shinkansen train in 2016?
24 seconds
The figure includes delays from natural disasters.
Q 26How many passengers have died in Shinkansen derailments or collisions in over 60 years?
None
The network has carried over 10 billion people; the only fatality involved a door closing on a passenger.
Q 27What caused the first derailment of a Shinkansen in passenger service, in October 2004?
The Chuetsu earthquake
Eight cars of the Toki No. 325 left the rails near Nagaoka; not one of the 154 passengers was hurt.
Q 28What is UrEDAS, introduced in 1992?
An earthquake alarm that brakes trains
Newer, lighter trainsets with stronger brakes can stop even faster when it triggers.
Q 29What is the seating capacity of a 16-car Tokaido Shinkansen trainset?
1,323
Up to 16 trains an hour run each way at peak, three minutes apart.
Q 30What seating layout do wider Shinkansen coaches allow in ordinary class?
2+3
The E1 and E4 double-deckers even managed 3+3.