Review on Bullet Train Explosion
A Singaporean friend of mine asked me, “I watched on Netflix. Do you know the movie? Is it a true story?” I didn’t know what ” Bullet Train Explosion ” was at that time, so I immediately Googled it and decided to watch it on Netflix. In this article, I would like to write an overview and my impressions. (To avoid spoilers, I will not go into the story in depth.)
As I wrote in my previous article, when I was in Japan, I often took the bullet train on business trips, so this is a very interesting movie.
Points:
For those who don’t know about the Bullet Train Explosion, here is a summary of the film.
・Released worldwide on Netflix on April 23, 2025.
・Story: A bomb was planted on the Hayabusa 60 train bound for Tokyo from Shin-Aomori, carrying 349 passengers and crew, which would explode immediately if the train slowed below 100 km/h. The perpetrator demanded 100 billion yen as a ransom to defuse the bomb. The highlight of this film is the nerve-wracking response of the crew and staff to avoid the explosion.
・”新幹線” or Shinkansen, is called bullet train
・The original work is the 1975 film “The Great Shinkansen Explosion,” and this work is said to be a reboot of the original. In the original work, a bomb is planted on the bullet train, “Hikari 109” bound for Hakata from Tokyo that will automatically explode if the speed drops below 80 km/h. At the time of the original work, the bullet train from Tokyo to Aomori had not yet been opened.
・The original work is also popular in the United States, and was the motif for the setting of the 1994 American film “Speed” (starring Keanu Reeves). In “Speed,” a bomb is placed on a bus, and when the speed exceeds 80 km/h, the detonator is turned on, and after that, if the speed drops below 80 km/h, a huge explosion occurs.
・This film was produced with the full support of JR East (formerly Japan National Railways), which actually operates the Shinkansen. As a result, the uniforms and behavior of the crew, operation management, and footage of the inside of actual Shinkansen trains are all based on those currently in operation, resulting in a realistic film. The former Japan National Railways did not cooperate with the filming of the original work.
・To create a realistic visual effect, a 1/6 scale model was created. CG images were also used to create an impactful visual effect.
・This story is not based on a true story.
Review:
My first impression after watching it was that it was a very impactful and fast-paced work that really drew me in. If I imagined that the train I was riding on was involved in an accident like that… I’d break out in a cold sweat. I highly recommend this work to people who enjoy the thrill or simply love trains.
When I thought about the theme of the work, it seemed to me that it was about how organizations and on-site respond and manage risk when something goes wrong. I felt that this was similar to the response of Tokyo Electric Power Company to the tsunami at its nuclear power plant in 2011. Generally, large companies create crisis management manuals, but how do people respond when an event occurs that goes beyond what the manual foresees? When faced with a real crisis, the values and identities of people and companies are brought to light. That’s how I felt.
On the other hand, the original work was written in the 1970s, a time when Japan’s economy was growing steadily, and the setting of the crimes committed by a man who failed in the management of a small town factory, a former radical, and a young man from Okinawa who came to the city for a group job offers a contrast between the positive side of Japan’s high economic growth period (the latest technology, the Shinkansen) and its negative side (things that were left behind by that period). For this reason, I recommend that people who have not watched the original work do so.
Travel by Train:
Now, many people would like to travel to Japan, but Japan is an island country with a long land area from north to south, and if you want to travel around Japan other than Tokyo, you will have to use trains or planes to get around the country. You can enjoy a comfortable trip on a bullet train that is not loaded with bombs, like in this movie!!
The Shinkansen is the best means of transportation: safe, punctual, comfortable, and fast. Planes are faster, but expensive, so for short and medium-distance travel, I recommend traveling by train, such as the Shinkansen. In such cases, if you purchase a Japan Rail Pass in advance, which allows unlimited train rides for a set period of time for a fixed price, you can travel efficiently and in a way that is comfortable on your wallet as well.
You can purchase a Japan Rail Pass from this website, so please take advantage of it.
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