The ironically titled "Progress waits for no one" riffs off the controversy surrounding the building a SCMegLev train that will carry passengers from Tokyo to Osaka in around an hour at speeds close to 600kph. It will pass through Shizuoka Prefecture, but not stop anywhere in Shizuoka. At the same time, it will take a bite out of Shizuoka's beautiful natural scenery.
One wonders why anyone needs to go to Tokyo or Osaka in under an hour. Progress means life is getting better for people, but as the painting and its title suggest, it is uncertain whether, on the whole, many people benefit from assorted grand tech projects.
Note that the puzzle-like clouds in the sky hint that the step-by-step method of scientific progress may result in the pieces being greater than the whole, in the way that each piece of the puzzle may be beautifully depicted. Still, somehow the total picture disappoints because it is fundamentally made of separate pieces or steps that cannot fully represent "the big picture" or even perfectly integrate to resemble the intended final image realistically.
