Shinji Sogō

Who was Shinji Sogō?

Shinji Sogō was the fourth president of the Japanese National Railways, and is credited with the creation of the first "bullet train", the Tōkaidō Shinkansen.

Born in Niihama, Ehime, Shikoku, in 1884, Shinji Sogo graduated from the Faculty of Law at Tokyo Imperial University in 1909, and joined the Railway Agency. While working for the Teito Reconstruction Agency after the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923, he was strongly influenced by Shinpei Gotō, the Agency president. After leaving the government railways in 1926, he became a director of the South Manchuria Railway. After the war, he served as Chairman of the Railway Welfare Association until he was appointed JNR president in 1955.