A New Netflix Film Features A Hurtling Japanese Bullet Train With A Ticking Bomb

The highspeed bullet train says Japan as much as Godzilla, sushi and Mount Fuji. And it takes center stage in Shinji Higuchi's new film, "Bullet Train Explosion," which premieres on Netflix Wednesday.

Higuchi, the director of the 2016 "Shin Godzilla" or "New Godzilla," has reimagined the 1975 Japanese film "The Bullet Train," which has the same premise: A bomb will go off if the train slows down below 100 kph 62 mph. That original movie also inspired Hollywood's "Speed," starring Keanu Reeves, which takes place mostly on a bus.

Higuchi recalls being fascinated by the aerodynamically shaped bullet trains growing up as they roared by, almost like a violent animal. To him, as with many Japanese, the Shinkansen - as the trains are called in Japan - symbolize the nation's efforts to become "top-rate," superfast, precise, orderly and on time.

"It's so characteristically Japanese," Higuchi said in an interview with The Associated Press on Tuesday. "To complete your work, even if it means sacrificing your personal life, is like a samurai spirit living within all Japanese."

The film's realism was achieved by a smooth combination of computer graphics and miniature train models, built to one-sixth the size of the real thing.