Railroad MP3: Boom! by Maia Hirasawa

See also:雪天決行 甲午年正月十八　秋田　横手梵天祭

March, 2011: 九州新幹線全線開業
April, 2011: 東北新幹線、全線運転再開
2016: 九州新幹線全線運転再開

I wanna be where you are
Not too cold, not too far
I wanna go
Home, home, home, home

While the world's getting
Smaller than small
I wanna be where you are
Though my heart is screaming
go, go, go, go, go

We Are The World
Is not a song I like to sing
I'll never do actually
Show Must Go On
Like Freddie sang
Is more like me
While my heart beats
Boom boom boom boom

Boom....
My heart beats

I want to see the world
Not from distance
Not from above
I wanna join
my boy, boy, boy, bo-boy

But what about you
I'm not that strong
So we will come along
Is my heart dreamin'

Just go go go go

We Are The World
Is not a song I like to sing
I'll never do actually
Show Must Go On
Like Freddie sang
Is more like me
I see you soon
Boom boom boom boom

Boom...

My heart beats

My heart beats
And my heart sings
And my heart screams

My heart beats for everyone
In every little second
And if you wanna come along
Just join the club of fortune
My heart beats for everyone
I can't just stop this feeling
My heart's won't stop beating

boboboboom!

Lyricist：Maia Hirasawa         Composer：Maia Hirasawa

I never get tired of this particular JR CM (advertisement), and probably never will. Every once in a while, I go on Youtube and watch it for the Nth time.
The idea, and even the execution (on the part of JR at least), seems simple enough. Set up a video camera on your train, point it out the window, and let loose one of your bullet train up the entire length of your track (see the long 25min version way down below...). The difficult part is, will the people turn up? Well, they sure did, and in full force! Just check out the clip, you know what I mean:

The JR Kyushu CM was for the opening of the entire line of the Kyushu Shinkansen, linking Kagoshima-Chuo station in the south all the way to Hakata station, in the north, The filming was done in February of 2011, and the actual official first day of the service (九州新幹線全線開通) was on the 12th of the following month. Judging by the joyous scene on this CM, you could be forgiven for thinking that the March opening ceremony was a grand occasion. It wasn't. In fact it was cancelled (the ceremony, that is. The train service went as planned). The date would tell you why: 12 March 2011.
The morning after the Tohoku earthquake-tsunami.

It just wasn't right to celebrate, I guess.

Not too long ago, mascot from Zao region on the Tohoku Shinkansen line was campaigning for your vote. Kumamon was probably a 'rival'.

The following month, JR East Japan came up with another CM: つなげよう、日本, announcing the opening of the entire line of the Tohoku Shinkansen in April.

I guess it means Connecting Japan, expressing hope that the restoration of the Tohoku Shinkansen damaged during the earthquake of the previous month will once again connect up all the towns and streets of the archipelago.

Of course, that's not possible as far as the Shinkansen system is concerned. The Hokkaido Shinkansen is still being built. It's official opening would have to wait another 5 years, in 2016, and again in the month of March. On 26 March, the archipelago really was linked by the Shinkansen.

Over the weekend, this short/long (depending on the version you streamed) video clip seems to have taken on added significance: Two events seperated by 5 years. Two Shinkansen lines, connected by similar events.

The same mascot from the Tohoku area tweet his well wishes to Kumamon.

The Tohoku Shinkansen was restored in about a month.

As the voice-over of Yoshinaga Sayuri says in the JR East CM:
NA（吉永小百合）：一日も早くレールをつなぐ。

街と町をつなぐ。
鉄道にできることはそれしかないけれど。
つながればきっと誰かの力になる。
私たちはそう信じています。
NA：4月29日、東北新幹線全線運転再開。
NA（吉永小百合）＋S：つなげよう、日本。

Mascot from Rikuzen-Takada, one of the most severely-affected area in the 2011 tsunami tweeting about fundraising campaign for the Kumamoto earthquake.

And as Maia Hirasawa sings in the JR Kyushu CM, 

We Are The World
Is not a song I like to sing
I'll never do actually
Show Must Go On
Like Freddie sang
Is more like me
While my heart beats
Boom boom boom boom

In due time, the Kyushu Shinkansen will be, too. 

The show will go on. Boom!