Shogo Arai, governor of Nara prefecture, said "Where to construct the station of Chūō Shinkansen should be decided by GOD of transportation." with the uprising invitation competition of where to construct the station among local governments in Nara prefecture.
When the governor was asked when to decide the location of the station, he pointed out that preparation of second construction area in Gakken-Takayama is one thing, location of the station is another.The former area is invited by Ikoma city.
He quoted Gifu-Hashima station, which has been called "Political station on rice field" named after the fact that the station was invited by a Diet member.
HE said "Despite a powerful politician decided the location of Gifu-Hashima station, the station gained its bad reputation as an undeveloped station. The location of new station should be decided out of political intention ,and it would be really better to ask inhabitants or GOD of transportation in Nara."
Citation: http://www.asahi.com/travel/rail/news/OSK201203090157.html (asahi.com)
I don't know who is the GOD of transportation. But, the most important thing we have to recongnize is that the governor of Nara prefecture has misunderstanding about the history of Gifu-Hashima station.
The fact is that JNR(Japan National Railway) planned to construct Shinkansen linearly from Nagoya to Sekigahara without passing through Gifu city. Then, those days' governor of Gifu prefecture protested the plan because he wanted to run Shinkansen via Gifu city. The result was that Banboku Oono, a Diet member from Gifu reconciled Gifu prefecture government with JNR.
In addition to it, Gifu-Hashima station was required to stop trains in case of heavy snow ,and to make "Kodama" wait for "Hikari"'s passing at Gifu-Hashima.
