Services on three Shinkansen lines in central and eastern Japan were suspended on Jan. 23 after a power outage occurred, triggered by loose overhead wires, forcing many passengers to walk to stations.

SAKU (Nagano): Before the Shinkansen was chosen to stop here, Fumihiro Yanagisawa, 52, felt stuck in a town that was going nowhere. Its main industry – agriculture – is on a slow decline.

All smoking rooms were abolished on the Tokaido, Sanyo and Kyushu Shinkansen lines on March 16, meaning that smoking is no longer allowed on any bullet train nationwide. Smoking had already been ...