I’m travelling from Tokyo to Kyoto on the Hikari “bullet train” on the Tokaido Shinkansen line that links Tokyo to Osaka. The trip takes two hours and 15 minutes at a maximum speed of 285 kilometres an hour. The high-speed train saves time. If I drove, it would take almost six hours. Launched in 1964, the shinkansen translates as “new main line” and is a network of nine lines. The fastest shinkansen bullet train runs at 320 kilometres an hour. On the shinkansen lines there are fast trains, semi-fast trains and local trains. On the Tokaido Shinkansen line, fast trains...