Tamori will be hosting a TV Asahi special program called "Tamori Station," which will delve into a variety of topics. The program, which will be broadcast from 8:00 pm to 9:48 pm on April 25th, will feature the secrets behind the evolution of the Shinkansen, which has been running for 60 years since its birth in 1964, with the full cooperation of JR Central.
Through rare footage and testimonies from those involved, the program will explore the drama of the birth of the Shinkansen. The focus of the program will be on the four men who overcame obstacles to develop the Shinkansen: Shinji Togo, the fourth president of Japanese National Railways, and Hideo Shima, the chief engineer at the time.
At a time when the maximum speed of the Tokaido Main Line was 95 kilometers per hour, he worked hard to realize the Shinkansen, a high-speed railway with a speed of over 200 kilometers per hour. In order to overcome the difficult problem of air resistance that prevented faster trains from reaching such speeds, he created a smooth, streamlined form that was a departure from the box-shaped carriages that had been used up until then. It is said that this streamlined form also contains a "desire for peace."
The program also focuses on the behind-the-scenes development of the Nozomi train, which achieved an even faster speed. To compete with airplanes and break through the two-and-a-half hour barrier between Tokyo and Shin-Osaka, engineers attempted to reduce the weight of the train by 25%. The program follows the history of the struggles that led to the creation of the lightweight train. Rare footage showing the history of the development of the Shinkansen is also introduced one after another, and Tamori cannot hide his excitement at the nostalgic footage of dining cars and buffets.
The program also includes an interview segment by Tamori, who visits a research facility in Komaki, Aichi Prefecture, run by JR Central, which is researching high-performance brakes in preparation for natural disasters, and the Shinkansen General Control Center, which manages the operation of the Tokaido Shinkansen, the location of which is kept top secret.
The tour also visited the tunnel excavation site 70 meters underground in Kawasaki City, Kanagawa Prefecture, which is the construction site for the Linear Chuo Shinkansen, which is scheduled to open after 2035. This is a glimpse into the forefront of the construction of the dream 500 km/h linear train that will run between Tokyo and Osaka in just 67 minutes.
Tamori, who has always loved trains, traveled to Tokyo from his hometown of Hakata on the Tokaido-Sanyo Shinkansen, which had just opened in 1975. Looking back on the recording, he said, "It was very interesting. The engineers at the time made possible everything that was said to be impossible, so they had incredible passion." He expressed his respect for the people involved in the development of the line.
He also expressed his gratitude for the efforts to pursue safety, accuracy, and comfort of the Shinkansen, saying, "It is precisely because of the steady daily training and research that a high level of safety is maintained." He appealed, "The Shinkansen is the world's first high-speed railway, realized by bringing together all of Japan's technological capabilities. I would like everyone to feel how the engineers of the time, while feeling their way around, achieved this world first with their technology and determination."
The cast will include Yoshino Kimura, a train expert, Professor Yoichi Kanayama of the Department of Urban and Transportation Design at Toyama University, and Professor Hitoshi Tsunashima of the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Nihon University's School of Industrial Technology. The assistant will be announcer Rui Watanabe.
