Independent Lens

Brakeless

On April 25, 2005, a West Japan Railway (West JR) commuter train crashed into an apartment building and killed 107 people. Afterward, an official report concluded the cause of the accident was over-speeding when the train's driver tried to make up an 80-second delay. What made the train's driver risk so many lives for an 80-second delay? "Brakeless" looks at Japanese society and asks if it is bound to the pursuit of efficiency at all costs. Have the national virtues of punctuality and loyalty to protocol become societal impediments and even dangers to the people of Japan? By Kyoko Miyake.