Japan’s Shinkansen - Extended Q&A & Practitioner Discussion

3:00-4:00p.m. (PT) | Link to register. 

Japan’s Shinkansen is often described in superlatives: fast, precise, iconic. But what actually makes it work?

Due to popular demand, we are hosting a special follow-up session to our March 3 webinar, “Beyond the Bullet Train: Lessons from Japan’s Shinkansen,” to continue the conversation and give participants more time to ask questions. This Q&A-focused webinar will revisit key themes from the original discussion and invite deeper dialogue on the real decisions, principles, and design thinking behind Japan’s high-speed rail success—and what they may mean for North American practitioners.

This Q&A-focused webinar will revisit key themes from the original discussion and invite deeper dialogue on the real decisions, principles, and design thinking behind Japan’s high-speed rail success—and what they may mean for North American practitioners.

Speakers:

• Masahiro Nakayama, Managing Director, JR Central Hotels Company

• Bryan Wong, Associate Planner, Access Planning

Moderator: Eric Eidlin, Station Planning Manager, City of San José Department of Transportation; MSTM Instructor

This webinar is co-sponsored by the Consulate General of Japan in San Francisco, APTA High-Speed & Intercity Passenger Rail Committee, High Speed Rail Alliance, and US High Speed Rail Association.

*1 PDH credit available

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About the Speakers

Masahiro Nakayama has served 36 years of his entire career with Central Japan Railway (JR Central) and its group corporations. He has long managerial experiences in high-speed rail operations, international affairs, transit-oriented developments and the hotel business in major cities of Japan, mainly Tokyo, Yokohama and Nagoya. His recent oversea stints include a leadership role in the United States from 2015 for six years as the General Manager of JR Central’s Washington, DC representative office, which has been offering technical support to high-speed rail projects in the state of Texas and the Northeast Corridor. Mr. Nakayama currently works for JR Central Hotels Company Limited and is responsible for directing marketing and operations of nine hotels located at the major stations of the Tokaido Shinkansen, all properties under ownership of JR Central. Mr. Nakayama holds a Master of Professional Studies (Hospitality Administration) degree from Cornell University and a BA from Waseda University in Tokyo, Japan.

Bryan Wong is a transit planning and passenger experience consultant at Access Planning, where he works on rail systems, station planning, and transit-oriented development across North America. His work focuses on system integration, governance, and how infrastructure decisions shape real-world operations and user experience. He has a particular interest in Japan’s Shinkansen as a total system—where infrastructure, operations, and passenger experience are tightly aligned—and explores how those principles can inform rail projects outside Japan.