The Toki No. 325 bullet train on the Joetsu Shinkansen Line was running at 210 kph when the first of a series of powerful quakes hit Niigata Prefecture shortly before 6 p.m. Saturday evening.
Although none of its 151 passengers were injured, the train was derailed -- the first time a bullet train left the tracks since such trains began running with the launch of the Tokaido Shinkansen Line in 1964.
"The train was running normally, when suddenly it swayed badly, and I almost hit my face on the back of the seat in front of me," said Eiichi Nakamura, 59, a company worker from the city of Niigata.