Do You Know The Real Story Behind 2025 Netflix's Japanese Action Thriller, 'Bullet Train Explosion'?

Shinji Higuchi’s portrayal of trains in Bullet Train Explosion

Shinji Higuchi has a great fascination with trains. The Japanese filmmaker watched the 1975 film, The Bullet Train when he was a fourth-grader. After 50 years, the 1975 Japanese action thriller still remained as one of Shinji’s favourites.

Shinji mentions in the film’s press notes that the original movie, The Bullet Train, lacked mechanical realism and was thus heavily criticised. So, Shinji closely observed the gap in the portrayal of trains and conceptualised the bullet train designs. He also took support from a major Japanese railway company, the East Japan Railway Company. Addressing the same, Shinji wrote in the press note:

“As someone who likes both movies and railroads, I was really upset by this response. So when we started this project, I wanted to make something that wouldn’t face this same criticism. I talked to experts knowledgeable about bullet train designs and researched the actual mechanisms. The JR East staff knew about the original film and wanted to show real bullet trains to people around the world. This feeling matched well with our intent to show real bullet trains on the screen.” 

Speaking to Time Magazine, Shinji shared due to the budget issue, they made miniature models as much big as possible and then wrecked those models.

A brief storyline of The Bullet Train directed by Junya Sato

Junya Sato’s The Bullet Train, starred Ken Takakura, Sonny Chiba, and Ken Utsui. The 1975 Japanese action thriller portrayed a perilous journey undertaken by a high-speed 0 series bullet train, Hiraki 109, which travelled from Tokyo to Hakata, carrying 1500 passengers. Shortly after the bullet train’s departure, the railway security head got notified by the antagonist of the film that a bomb has been planted in the train.

Antagonist, Ken Takakura informed that if the train's speed would drop below 80 kilometers per hour, the bomb would explode. Then again, the national railway authorities got a call from Ken Takakura who demanded a ransom of $5 million.

Shinji Higuchi tweaked The Bullet Train’s storyline concept

Shinji Higuchi tweaked the story line of 1975 Japanese action thriller, The Bullet Train to make Netflix’s Bullet Train Explosion. Shinji carefully shifted the main focus from the antagonist of The Bullet Train to the fellow passengers, such as Machiko Ono and Jun Kaname, in the Bullet Train Explosion. Shinji also brought change in the speed of the bullet train and the ransom amount.

In the 2025 sequel, Bullet Train Explosion shows a Hayabusa 60, E5 Series Shinkansen, which travels from Shin-Aomori to Tokyo. With a similar chain of events to the 1975 Japanese action thriller, the speed of the bullet train can now go down to 100 kilometres per hour. Here, in 2025 sequel, an anonymous caller contacts the JR East headquarters in Tokyo and demanded 100 billion yen that is roughly around $710,360,000.

A brief history of Japan’s Shinkansen bullet trains

Sixty years ago, on October 1, 1964, Japan made history with the inauguration of the world’s first bullet trains that went down from Tokyo to Shin-Osaka. Previously, the old Limited Express trains took around six hours and forty minutes to reach from Tokyo to Osaka, which was cut short by the Tokaido Shinkansen to three hours and ten minutes. The Tokaido Shinkansen could travel 322 kilometers per hour. Over the years, the Shinkansen brought many train models. Cut to 2025, the fastest bullet train in Japan is the Hayabusa train.

What do you think about the real story behind the making of Bullet Train Explosion? Let us know.

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