Klimawandel und Ökologie
The Asia-Pacific Journal | Japan Focus,   Volume 15 | Issue 12 | Number 5 | Jun 15, 2017
Mit freundlicher Erlaubnis von Japan Focus

End Game for Japan’s Construction State - The Linear (Maglev) Shinkansen and Abenomics

Aoki Hidekazu and Kawamiya Nobuo


Abstract
Prime Minister Abe has committed 3 trillion yen ($27 billion) to finance a linear Shinkansen project linking Tokyo and Nagoya/Osaka by Maglev. Technical analysis shows that the Linear Shinkansen constitutes not only an extraordinarily costly but also an abnormally energy-wasting project, consuming in operation between four and five times as much power as the Tokaido Shinkansen which already provides high speed rail connection. Since the 1960s, Japan’s major construction projects have become vastly more costly and less efficient. Deficitbreeding, energy-wasting, environmentallydestructive, and technologically unreliable, the Linear Shinkansen project must be considered a guaranteed fiasco, with the potential not only of its own collapse but of bringing the Tokaido Shinkansen down too.

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