Stumbled upon this 2001 article in the Japan Railway & Transport Review about the history of EMUs vs loco-hauled trains in Japan. https://www.ejrcf.or.jp/jrtr/jrtr27/pdf/f40_ina.pdf

It adds some nice background context to @jon 's recent article regarding TGVs and how different choices they made in the 70s and 80s lead to lauding gauge problems in 2026… https://jonworth.eu/rail-path-dependency-how-the-oil-crisis-and-the-british-government-left-sncf-with-a-problem-in-italian-tunnels/