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Japan Is Designing An Invisible Train To Be Launched In 2018



If anyone's going to be dreaming up the outlandish trains of the future, it's Japan. It's already mastered the levitating bullet train, which has been ferrying its passengers across the country at speeds of up to 580 km/hour for the past two years, and now Seibu Railway Co. wants to build a train that's virtually invisible to onlookers.




Japan Is Designing An Invisible Train To Be Launched In 2018




Designed by architect Kazuyo Sejima from the Japanese firm Sanaa, who recently received a Pritzker Prize - the Nobel Prize of architecture - the train won't be completely invisible (obviously), but super-reflective. Basically, it blends into its surroundings by reflecting them off its pristine mirrored surfaces.


Unfortunately, not a whole lot has been made public about the forthcoming design - probably because you don't tell the world about how to build a semi-invisible train before building one for yourself. But according to Dezeen magazine, its current exterior will be replaced with semi-transparent and mirrored panels, and its boxy shape moulded into a silver bullet.


If invisible vehicles sound like a pretty good idea to you - and every cat, squirrel, raccoon, and ill-fated train set that ever found itself under the wheels of a parked car that's suddenly no longer parked - Land Rover may or may not be working on a car with a transparent hood.


About a year after the magnetic levitating bullet train broke speed records in Japan in 2015, a Japanese railway company named Seibu Railway has announced that it is designing an invisible train to hit the tracks by 2018.


A Japanese architect has designed a train that is not only fast but blends into the landscape so well, that onlookers find it hard to see. Such invisible trains are expected to be introduced to the Tokyo area in 2018.


Seijima has created the train for Seibu railway company's 100th anniversary. The company, famous for their colourful high-speed bullet trains, already operate 180 km of railway lines around Tokyo. The new invisible trains will be travelling on a limited number of routes in Japan.


The trains will feature "rounded lines and a semi-reflective coating that acts like mirror," according to Sejima's initial rendering. Sejima will design the trains to commemorate the 100th anniversary for Seibu Group, the firm responsible for redesigning Japan's Red Arrow trains.


Within each year, new figures were officially released, especially during the Anime's run. The 2018 line also redesigned many existing models to look more like the animated designs and the real world shinkansen type, though the primary exceptions were the Black Shinkalion models, which were created from scratch-made designs drawn up specifically for the anime. Many of the models are the front and rear trains combined as the upper and lower robot half, with the middle carriage storing the weapons for the resulting robot. The toyline for the Z anime features additional train models that form enhanced replacement limbs and weapons. Unlike the Shinkalions, these models were based on conventional trains.


The badge comes with a strap, so owners can attach it to their belongings. Tokyo officials created it in the hope of making it easier for those suffering from "invisible disabilities" to get help from others. People would recognize the mark and offer up their seats on buses and trains, or help carry luggage.


Michiyo has high expectations for the upcoming Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics. She hopes to use the opportunity to promote the "help mark" and raise understanding for "invisible disabilities." She launched a new project this year, with an eye on the event. Through this project, she is involving more young people and those without disabilities in her campaign. For instance, she started sessions where university students teach elementary school children what the "help mark" is.


Ellie Stathaki is the Architecture Editor at Wallpaper*. She trained as an architect at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in Greece and studied architectural history at the Bartlett in London. Now an established journalist, she has been a member of the Wallpaper* team since 2006, visiting buildings across the globe and interviewing leading architects such as Tadao Ando and Rem Koolhaas. Ellie has also taken part in judging panels, moderated events, curated shows and contributed in books, such as The Contemporary House (Thames & Hudson, 2018) and Glenn Sestig Architecture Diary (2020). 2ff7e9595c


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