[tsuyoshi]

This article is somewhat confused. The author seems to be asserting that Tokyo is so populous because more people commute by Shinkansen than by other means, but that would be totally false. The number of people commuting by non-Shinkansen trains is much, much higher. And how can the long-term shift of business from Osaka to Tokyo be explained by the Shinkansen? There are far more people living west of Tokyo (i.e., in the direction of Osaka) than north of it, so I don't see how the Shinkansen, on its own, shifts the center of gravity toward Tokyo. Or what about the growth of the west side of the Yamanotesen (i.e. Ikebukuro, Shinjuku, and Shibuya), which the Shinkansen doesn't even serve? The Shinkansen is great and all, but this article doesn't make any sense to me.