Bullet from the blue: Six decades of Japan's wonder train

At 6am on 1 October 1964, two trains set off in opposite directions in a daring experiment that would turn them into symbols of Japan's transformation from militarist pariah to global economic powerhouse.

- Justin McCurry

Footage shows smartly dressed men, women and children marvelling at the countryside whizzing past their windows, some perhaps trying to calm their nerves at being whisked along at speeds unheard of in rail travel.

Crowds gathered on platforms to watch the two trains reach their destinations, Tokyo and Osaka. Then, like now, they arrived exactly on time, at 10am, depositing their passengers after a 515km journey that had once taken almost seven hours but which they had just completed in four.

Six decades on, it is hard to believe that many then viewed the shinkansen - now the jewel in the crown of the country's public transport infrastructure - as an indulgence. There were protests over the acquisition of land, while critics labelled it an expensive anachronism in a postwar age of prosperity and mobility in which air and road travel would surely reign.

Instead, the shinkansen, commonly known outside Japan as the bullet train, has become a byword for Japanese comfort and efficiency. The network now covers three of the country's four main islands - a network of almost 3,000km that connects most major cities, taking passengers to their destinations at speeds of up to 320km/h.