At 6 a.m. on 1 October 1964, two sleek trains set off in opposite directions in a daring experiment. The two trains reached their 41 , Tokyo and Osaka, exactly on time, at 10 a.m., depositing their passengers after a 320-mile journey that had once taken almost seven hours. This was the 42 of Japan's Shinkansen era. 43 the 1964 Tokyo Olympic Games, the Shinkansen, or the bullet train, marked the country's astonishing recovery from the trauma of WWII. Japan's challenging topography and widely 44 climates, from the freezing winters of the north to the tropical humidity farther south, have made Japanese railroad engineers world leaders in rail technology. Not least of these is seismic activity. Japan is one of the most geologically unstable places on the planet, prone to earthquakes and tsunamis. Despite these factors, there has not been a single 45 as a result of a rail crash over its history. More than a means of transportation, the Shinkansen has become a potent symbol of Japan's continuing economic and technological development.