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On 2:46 p.m.March 11, amagnitude 9earthquake struck nmortheast Japan, andits effects were felt asfar away as Tokyo.Prefectures along thePacific Ocean were hit with shaking thatreached the maximumlevel, according toJapanese measure-

ments. The accompany-ing violent rise in thesea floor created amassive tsunami

estimated at more than100 feet that sweptinland. Cars and homes,boats and breakwaters the wave swallowedeverything like they were dollhouse piecesand left 15,000 peopledead and another10,000 missing. Those who managed to escape

the tsunami lost theirhomes, and now live inshelters.

Nevertheless, during this historic event, 27Shinkansen (JapaneseHigh-Speed Rail) trainsin operation in theTohoku region, withmany passengers onboard at the time,stopped safely without asingle derailment. In

terms of preventing thederailment, JR East, oneof four high-speed railoperators in Japan,

claims that theShinkansen trainshad their speedautomatically decreased by their earthquakeearly detectionsystem before thepowerful quakearrived. Theanti-seismicreinforcementson the elevated

track pillars alsohad significanteffect, a lessonlearned fromtheir experience with the GreatHanshin/AwajiEarthquake in1995.

Despite thedamage caused by thisdisaster, JR East gradual-ly restarted operationsin sections withoutmuch damage. Itreopened the entireTohoku Shinkansen lineon April 29. As one of the main arteries of Japans transportation

infrastructure, this linesrenovation and theslowly increasing number of touristsstood as a symbol to theJapanese people thatthey could endure andrebuild.

As the 1964 Olympics the first in Asia opened in Tokyo, the worlds first high-speedtrain also made itsdebut.

Japan in the 1960s was booming withincreased demand fortransportation andtourism, and theTokyo-Osaka Tokaidoconventional rail line was reaching the limitsof it capabilities. To

address this, JapaneseNational Railwaysplanned a 130-mphtrain to connect the twocities in about threehours.

The Shinkansennetwork, which formsan important supportnetwork for the Japa-nese economy, grew inthe following years andnow includes approxi-mately 1,500 miles of tracks, with furtherexpansion in the future.JR East also plans toincrease operating speeds from current 186to 200 mph.

The Shinkansensystem has moreadvantages than success-ful anti-seismic anddisaster-proof engineer-ing. It also drives the

growth of tourism in agiven area. For example,in December 2002, JREast opened a new route from Morioka toHachinohe in northeast-ern Japan. These 60miles of track enabledJR East to shorten thetrip to Hachinohe fromTokyo by 40 minutes, while simultaneously

proving that one-day ridership increased 50%and continues to climb. Yearly transportationnumbers throughHachinohe station

increased from 1.1million to 1.9 million within five years. Thisdata shows the effecthigh-speed rail has onregional and inter-re-gional demand.

Furthermore, theShinkansen also has animpact on tourismdemand itself. Thenumber of tourists to

Aomori (Hachinohesprefecture) increased by almost 6 million peoplethe year after the lineopened. These peoplevisited national parksand spring festivals where cherry blossoms the Japanese nationalflower were in fullbloom.

The number of tourists to southern Aomori specifically from the Tokyo areadoubled in the five years after the line

SEE JAPAN , PAGE 10

Yosemite International, by reducing the amount of air shuttles withtimely HSR trains to and from the LA basin and the Bay Area at a lower

cost. In return, FYI becomes a hubfor transcontinental flights due toreduced drive aways that havebeen created by an increasedpassenger base in and from theCentral Valley.

With the advent of astate-of-the-art intermodaltransportation center in downtownFresno, anchored by the new HSRstation, Fresno has the opportunity to offer an integrated and seamlesstransportation system that can servethe entire Central Valley.

This can be accomplished by integrating a Bus Rapid Transitsystem connecting outlying communities like Kerman, Selma,Kingsburg, Sanger, Reedley andMadera as well as FYI to the new station. This intermodal facility would offer affordable transportationto all in the Valley.

All of the aforementioned areindicators that we are on the cusp of a transportation revolution in the

United States. As an integral part of the

international community, we havebeen identified for moret than twocenturies as problem solvers and

innovators. Let us not be defined by the problem identifiers andnaysayers.

Im not suggesting that theenvironmental process wont befraught with real issues that in somecases could become highly divisive.However, I honestly believe that thisis a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for us as a community and region toshed the belief held by so many forso long that nothing great canhappen in Fresno. We must dispelthat myth.

We, more than any other nation,ought to be striving toward HSR aspart of the solution to mitigating many of our intra-city travel issuesfor the next 100 years.

We owe it to our children andgrandchildren to leave this state inbetter shape than it has been left tous.

So, to borrow a bit from a recentad slogan: Lets build something great together!

FROM PAGE 7

Japans rail lines reliable,quakeproof

Marchs earthquake and tsunami didntstop Japans high-speed rail, long a sourceof tourism and economic stability.by Masayuki Tanemura

Consulate General of Japan,San Francisco

As one of the mainarteries of Japans transportationinfrastructure, thislines renovationand the slowlyincreasing numberof tourists stood asa symbol to the Japanese people that they couldendure and rebuild.

Masayuki Tanemura

Commerce: Project means Valley jobs

Rail passengers cross a street in Japan, site of the worlds firsthigh-speed rail system, which debuted for the 1964 Olympics.

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8 SATURDAY, JUNE 18, 2011 A CUSTOM PUBLICATION OF THE FRESNO BEE