The Shinkansen, colloquially known as the bullet train, is a network of mainly high-speed lines in Japan, built to link Tokyo with the rest of the country. Its first line, the Tōkaidō Shinkansen, opened shortly before the 1964 Tokyo Summer Olympics. The 552.6 kilometre route connects Tokyo, Yokohama, Nagoya and Kyoto, and later lines spread across the country. Some sections near major cities also carry commuters every day. Its trains run on a dedicated track, separated from slower traffic, which lets them travel at high speed safely.

The Edo period ran from the early 1600s to 1868, when the Tokugawa shogunate ruled Japan and around 300 regional daimyo, or feudal lords, governed their domains. After Tokugawa Ieyasu won the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600, the shogunate ended the chaos of the Sengoku period and kept the country largely at peace. The regime enforced a strict social order, required the daimyo to spend time in the capital, and pursued isolationist foreign policy. Meanwhile, towns grew, the economy expanded and popular arts such as woodblock prints, theatre and literature flourished among ordinary townspeople.