What was Japan's first Shinkansen line, opened in 1964?

What was Japan's first Shinkansen line, opened in 1964? The answer is the Tōkaidō Shinkansen.

The line officially opened on 1 October 1964, linking Tokyo and Shin-Osaka just before the Tokyo Olympics. It was Japan's first Shinkansen route and the foundation of the country's high-speed rail network. Its name refers to the historic Tōkaidō corridor along the Pacific side of central Honshu.

Japanese National Railways began construction in 1959 after the existing Tōkaidō Main Line had become severely overcrowded. The project used standard-gauge track, dedicated infrastructure and purpose-built electric trains. Hikari services initially covered Tokyo–Osaka in four hours, while all-stations Kodama services took five.

A common mix-up is treating “Shinkansen” as the name of one line. It is the broader high-speed railway system; the Tōkaidō Shinkansen was its first operating route. Later lines included the Sanyō, Tōhoku and Jōetsu Shinkansen. The World Bank helped finance construction, and its loan was fully repaid in 1981.