Nozomi service hurt Nagoya residents' pride.
The Nozomi timetable was designed to allow businesspeople in the Tokyo metropolitan area to arrive in Osaka in time for meetings that started at 9 a.m. The train left Tokyo at 6 a.m. and did not stop at Nagoya or Kyoto.
This timetable angered people in Nagoya, where JR Tokai is based. They called it "disrespectful" for the Shinkansen to "skip" their city. Even though JR Tokai had expected some negative reactions, the fierce response prompted the operator to defend itself, saying, "Nagoya is skipped by just one Nozomi service in the early morning. This does not mean that we will reduce services for [local] passengers."
When a revised timetable took effect on March 18, 1993—a year after the uproar—all 15 newly added Nozomi services stopped at Nagoya. But the revision did not soothe everyone. When the Aichi prefectural assembly met that month, one member said, "This is not an issue of convenience, but our honor."
JR Tokai learned how seriously feelings could be bruised when the Shinkansen was involved.
Source: March 20, 1993, Yomiuri Shimbun morning edition