In one of the more lavish ceremonies of 19th-century Japan, a teenage Emperor Meiji arrived at Shimbashi in the new imperial capital of Tokyo and embarked on something entirely unprecedented for the nation: a passenger train.

On Oct. 14, 1872, the emperor opened a railway line between Shimbashi and Yokohama, a transformative miracle in an era when transport was mostly horse-drawn carriages, horseback and rickshaws.

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Excerpt from:

Empire of steel: Where Japan's railways stand after 150 years of evolution - The Japan Times