“Shall We Travel by Train?” a lecture by Naoyuki Agawa, vice president of international affairs at Keio University in Tokyo, will be held at 5:30 p.m. March 1 in the Student Government Chamber, third floor, Millennium Student Center at the University of Missouri–St. Louis.

Trains have been running in Japan for close to 140 years. Now running throughout Japan in countless forms and at different speeds, trains are a vital means of transportation the country depends upon. But they are much more than that.

The Japanese have written novels and poems and sung about them. They have given them names, eaten and vacationed in them, and built museums about them. In short, the Japanese have fallen in love with trains.

Among these great trains is the network of the Shinkansen or Bullet Trains, the world’s most punctual, frequent, rapid and environmentally friendly train system that is the pride of the nation. The Shinkasen is fast and efficient but also aesthetically attractive. Agawa of Keio University and former Minister for Public Affairs at the Embassy of Japan will entice you to take a ride on the Shinkansen and other Japanese trains while shedding some light on historical and cultural contexts in which the Japanese train systems and the people’s love for them have developed over the years.

The lecture is sponsored by the St. Louis Mercantile Library at UMSL, Center for Transportation Studies at UMSL, Center for International Studies at UMSL, Japan Foundation, Consulate General of Japan in Chicago, Japan America Society of Saint Louis,  and Regional Commerce and Growth Association.

Visit http://www.cfis-umsl.com or call 314-516-7299 to make a reservation for the lecture and request your free parking permit and campus map.