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New Shinkansen design unveiled, bullet train exterior includes cherry blossom Easter egg

Casey Baseel Mar 4, 2025
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JR East gives us our first glimpse at the upcoming cars of the Tohoku Shinkansen.

Whether you’re a railfan, an all-around travel buff, or a Japanophile in general, it’s always cool to catch a glimpse of the Shinkansen. At the station to pick up/drop off passengers or zooming along the tracks en route to its next destination, Japan’s bullet train is a symbol of the country itself and immediately brings to mind its myriad travel destinations that are waiting to be explored.

So it’s a big deal when the Shinkansen gets a redesign, but that’s just what’s happening for the Tohoku Shinkansen, the portion of the high-speed rail network that connects Tokyo with the northeastern region of Japan’s main island of Honshu.

Operator East Japan Railway Company, a.k.a. JR East, has unveiled the design of its new E10-series Shinkansen, which is slated to replace the current E2 and E5 bullet trains currently on the Tohoku Shinkansen line, which went into service in 1997 and 2011, respectively.

▼ E2 Shinkansen

▼ E5 Shinkansen

The E5 Shinkansen, with its bright teal top half, is especially iconic, having been introduced just a few months after the Tohoku Shinkansen line was extended to its current north point of Shin-Aomori Station. The new E10 carriages will have a similar, though slightly darker, color, but paired with a very deep, almost navy blue shade of green.

The curvature of the pattern running near the train’s beltline has two inspirations. One is the mountainous geography of the Tohoku region, but if you’re seeing something floral in the curvature as well, your eyes aren’t deceiving you, because the angle is meant to evoke thoughts of cherry blossom petals.

The E10 is more than a visual reworking of the Shinkansen, though. JR East says the new cars will have enhanced safety measures, allowing them to stop in shorter distances when emergency braking procedures are required and improving stability to keep the cars on the track in the case of an earthquake. A special cargo loading door on car 5 of the 10-car train will help with speedy loading and unloading for smoother station stops. Inside the passenger area, Train Desk cars, aimed at business travelers needing to get work done during their ride, will be revamped into a new configuration with two seats on either side of the center aisle, equipped with dividers and headrest wings for a greater sense of privacy. Each seat will have its own power outlet, and the seatback trays have also been expanded in size to provide additional space for laptops or other work devices and documents.

The new Shinkansen is scheduled to begin test runs in 2027 and to start carrying passengers in the spring of 2030.

Source: PR Times
Top image: PR Times
Insert images: Wikipedia/MaedaAkihiko (1, 2), PR Times
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