Future and advanced technologies have always fascinated the Japanese since it opened up to world trade after centuries of isolation. Ever si...
Future and advanced technologies have always fascinated the Japanese since it opened up to world trade after centuries of isolation. Ever since the arrival of Commodore Matthew Perry's ironclad steamships and the eventual adoption of trains through the islands, many Japanese visionaries have viewed a future where hybrid transports were commonplace.
The popular Shōnen Club magazine has published an illustrated article entitled "World Transportation Invention Competition" where it showed how future transport would look like as far as Japan is concerned. Illustrators like Reiji Iizuka, Matsujiro Murakami, Gyosui Suzuki, and Kikuzo Ito have showcased their fanciful hope that future transportation will change the way people live.
In what looks like a futuristic-looking Volkswagen Beetle in a roller-skate like spherical wheels (upper left), this illustration from Iizuka was obviously derived from the designs of a German inventor from the looks of it. Made from oversized rubber spheres, the vehicle tires are expected to provide a smoother ride for the passengers on board as it is possible for it to run on uneven surfaces. However, any prototype was never been made.
In an inspired concept made by Suzuki, this passenger ship (upper right) somewhat resembles a U.S. Navy transport ship where its hull designed to open up. In this case, the opening allows a small fleet of boats to escape to ferry out the passengers. The similar American design, later on, proved to be the case when their landing craft transports were used in the various island-hopping campaign in the Pacific during World War 2.
Another fascinating design (lower left) involves a hybrid propeller-driven locomotive that runs on two wheels on a track. Conceptualized by Ito, the monorail train looks somewhat precarious as its driving mechanism involves what aeroplanes and trains do. It is said that the tail fin will keep it stable and upright as it runs around the mountain.
Before the big passenger lines of Aerobus and Boeing became common in international transport, Murakami has envisioned a similar but odd-looking one (lower right). Based on an American design, this airplane is powered by propellers that blast air through a pair of large ducts.
Finally, a stingray looking amphibious looking aeroplane-tank hybrid is expected to breeze through the water and land with its pair of caterpillar tracks that allow the vessel to transition on land.
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