Shinbashi Station at 150th Anniversary
150 years of Japanese railways—the birth story
How was the first ever Japanese railway built?
October 14th, 2022 marked the 150th anniversary of the Japan’s rail service. A commemoration event was held at the ‘Steam Locomotive’ square in front of Shinbashi Station. Various stalls sold exclusive merchandise, Ekiben (railway bento boxes), and nameplates of previously operated express trains. There was also a mini art gallery and an exhibition of the stone used to support the rails of this first route along the coastline of Tokyo bay. Why Shinbashi? This is where the first ever train route was opened in 1872: Shinbashi to Yokohama. The grand minister Sanjo Sanetomi and the Meiji Emperor addressed positive remarks on the very day. This indicated Japan’s plan to expand the railway network across Japan to increase trade and national prosperity.
Stone used as embankment of the new railway
Proposal to construct a railway
However, initial attempts to open a railway were not easy. In the 1860s, there were several attempts by both Japanese and foreigners residing in Japan to propose plans for railway construction to the Shogunate. Unfortunately, they were all unachieved due to respective reasons.
For example, the Satsuma Domain signed a contract in 1862 with a Belgian entrepreneur Comte des Cantons de Monblanc on developing mines, building factories, and establishing a trading company. The contract aimed to help industrialize Japan. They also made agreements on railway construction later that year. The plan to connect Kyoto and Osaka via rail seemed profitable and efficient because of sufficient population. Despite the domain’s ambitions, the plan was turned down as political and economic interests between the United Kingdom and the domain after the Anglo-Satsuma War went in the way.
Meanwhile, France was keen to push the idea of railway construction emphasizing its economic and militaristic importance. Given the strong presence of the UK in foreign markets, the latecomer France wanted to dominate future exports of silk and developments of underground resources under the rails after the completion of a new railway. French banker Fleury Herald tried to persuade this scheme to the Shogunate along with preexisting conversations about military assistance by and loan from France. Because the latter two were prioritized, plan for railway construction was scrapped.
Rail map between Shinbashi (right) and Yokohama (left)
Notably, the United States has repeatedly tried to invest in railway construction in Japan. A. L. C. Portman from the American legation in Japan, who formerly came to Japan with Commodore Matthew Perry as a Dutch interpreter, proposed a plan to the Shogunate. The plan stated that the US would help construct a railway from Edo (currently Tokyo) to Yokohama in three years. Tax would not be imposed on imported construction materials, and the US government could hand over the railway to Japan anytime the Shogunate wanted. However, the plan also stated that the hand over is permitted only with additional 50% interest of the original construction fee, and the train fare for both passengers and cargo should not be 1.25 times more expensive than standard train fares in the US and the UK. Overall, the plan put the US as the main operator of the railway where its profit directly goes into the company. As you can see, the conditions for the railway project were US-friendly.
Surprisingly, on January 17, 1868, Nagamichi Ogasawara (member of the Council of the Elders within the Shogunate) agreed. This is because they wanted to strengthen its power by accepting foreign investments to stand against rising oppositions to the Shogunate including the Satsuma Domain by raising its prestige. Practically, however, they were no longer in power of Japan after the coup d’état by the opposition on January 3rd of the same year. The Shogunate could not bring railway into reality.
Artwork by Utagawa Kuniteru depicting one section of the new railway
After the end of the Shogunate’s despotism, the new Meiji government rejected an another attempt by the US who claimed that the acceptance of railway construction by Ogasawara is still ‘valid’ (meaning that it was unclear who was accountable for the acceptance given the transition of government). The government held the stance that while there is need for railways in Japan, construction of such by a foreign country causes a lot of issues.
Following the advice of British consul-general H. S. Parkes that it is possible to construct a railway by Japanese people, the government proceeded this plan. Parkes contacted the British government to select one of the best engineers to help lead the project. R. H. Brunton, a lighthouse engineer was nominated. He and Japan’s project leader Masaru Inoue collaborated to successfully construct and open the first ever Japanese railway. Japan eventually chose to collaborate with the UK because: 1) Strong advice from Parkes and Brunton, 2) Deep knowledge as an inventor of railways, 3) Inoue and Hirobumi Ito, the Japanese prime minister, shared similarities. Inoue studied railway construction technology at University of London for five years and then start working in 1869 with Ito, who happened to fly together with him to the UK the same time Inoue started his study abroad. Ito was a supporter of railway construction.
Modern train replaces the steam locomotive
Funding
Now, the issue was: how can the Japanese government receive funding for this expensive project? When the government was starting to realize the impracticality of securing funds from merchants, Horatio Nelson Lay, a former British vice-consul in Shanghai, China, approached them with funding. The government approved this foreign investment since private funding was difficult. Despite oppositions within and outside the government, foreign investment as well as railway construction itself was decided successfully as the decision was made by only a handful of high ranking officials. As for intragovernmental dissents, those officials were able to turn their opinions around through strong persuasion.
Another problem suddenly emerged. When the government and Lay agreed upon funding, the government understood that he is going to take role as a mediator with several investors. However, Lay publicly reported on the issuance prospectus “Imperial Government of Japan Customs Loan” that his funding would be secured by issuing interest-bearing public bonds of one million pounds, after he found out that he could not find any investors. The yearly interest was 9% and the redemption period was 13 years. The government opposed to this sudden report claiming that this is not what Lay has initially proposed, and that this would put Japanese economy into great risk. This problem eventually was settled by support from the Oriental Bank Corporation and other government officials. In retrospect, the proposed interest rate and redemption period were aggressively set.
Construction and opening
After resolving more opposition within the government including opinions to prioritise militarization over railway construction, surveying started. The railway was planned to start from Shinbashi area (currently Shiodome) to Yokohama. Due to terrain, parts of the railway were built on new embankments over the ocean. Railway construction started on November 1869, and it was a daunting task. The new government was politically and economically unstable and the total construction fee accounted for 20% of yearly government revenue. This equals to 10 trillion yen in current standards which is close to the total construction fee of four Shinkansen lines (Tokaido, Sanyo, Tohoku, Joetsu).
Railway construction requires land. Farmers who lost their land did get some compensation. However, workers in the transportation/hotel industry hit hard. The advent of transportation meant that old transportation such as horse carriages and palanquin carriers would lose customers. Decline of long distance travel also meant less demand for accommodation. Workers directly protested by disturbing surveying/construction and by cutting electric wires. However, by the time the new railway has gained traction, these were not issues anymore. There were about 3600 passengers everyday with 60-75% seats filled. There were short term repercussions but in the long run, obviously, railways have been a blessing in terms of culture and economy.
Crowd at 150th Anniversary Event
Today we took a glimpse of how the first railway in Japan came to be. Want to know more what happened after 1872? That would be for another time.
Article updated on August 20, 2024