申論題

      As the Shinkansen rolls into Japan's northern island of Hokkaido for the first time, Japan's bullet train adds new luxury f 1  to its service: lounge, wider seats, and free drinks. Starting March 26, 2016, Hokkaido Railway will steer trains at a top speed of 320 kilometers per hour to whisk passengers between Tokyo and Hakodate in four hours and two minutes.

      That's only an hour longer than on a jet plane. With luxury offerings, bullet trains are giving the nation's two largest carriers ANA Holdings and Japan Airlines a 2 for their money. Japan's high-speed trains, known as Shinkansen, have expanded their network since their d 3 t in time for the 1964 Tokyo Olympic Games. Bullet trains are gaining more g 4 d against airlines. When the Hokuriku link opened last year, it cut the travel time between Tokyo and Kanazawa, a city in central Japan, to two hours 28 minutes, and made it faster than flying. All Nippon Airways cut the number of flights to the region as passenger numbers tumbled 5 as much as 50 percent.

     With the opening of the Hokkaido Shinkansen line, ANA aren't taking any special m 6  at this point, according to its President Osamu Shinobe. "G 7 the time it takes on the train, we don't think that airline passengers will be lured away anytime soon," said he.

     Indeed, not everyone is en 8 by a four-hour train ride. So the focus on luxury and price is critical. Train seats are 2 centimeters wider than those in ANA's business class. Business and first-class travelers also get c 9 y drinks, snacks, Internet access and newspapers in the business lounge beforehand. The bullet train is also generally cheaper. On the opening day, the lowest business class fare on ANA to Hakodate from Tokyo's Haneda airport is 44,900 yen. That compares with 38,280 yen for a one-way first class ticket on the bullet train. By 2030, the Hokkaido line will be extended to the prefecture's capital Sapporo, further in 10  competition with planes. The bullet train link will be "much more competitive if it connects to Sapporo because it's quite expensive to go there by airplane," said Dan Lu, an analyst at JPMorgan Securities Japan.