The Linear (L0) “Maglev” motorcar on the test track in Yamanashi Prefecture. CC License, Wikipedia, Saruno Hirobano For decades, Japanese business and government leaders, as well as much of the media, have hyped the country’s planned bullet train, the Linear Chūō Shinkansen (Linear). The magnetically levitated (“maglev”) bullet train can reach speeds of 500 kilometers per hour and is scheduled to link Tokyo to Nagoya in 40 minutes by 2027 and to Osaka in just 67 minutes by 2045. That would hypot...