A 6.8-magnitude earthquake struck Niigata prefecture on 23 October 2004, derailing a Shinkansen bullet train carrying roughly 150 passengers. None were hurt, rail operator JR East Japan said.
The train had left Tokyo and was passing near the epicenter, about 200 kilometers north of the capital, when the tremor hit at 5:56 p.m. local time. The first and last cars of the 10-car train left the rails; the train tilted but did not overturn.
The initial shock rattled buildings across Tokyo for several minutes, followed by a series of strong aftershocks. Shinkansen services operate at up to 300 kilometers per hour.
The derailment was the first involving passengers since bullet-train service opened 40 years earlier for the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. Rail authorities have been reinforcing tunnels and trackside barriers in anticipation of a major quake that seismologists expect to strike along central Japan's Pacific coast.
Historical summary. TurkishPress restated this AFP wire report, first published in October 2004, in its own words.