Foreign companies also invest a great deal of money in Japan. Japan relies on trade with the rest of the world to supply it with many kinds of food, clothing, manufactured and consuer goods and natural resources. Highways are one of the most important links in the transportation system. Japan has over 1.1 million kilometers of roads, and has almost three kilometers of road for every square kilometer of land, roughly twice as much as France or the United Kingdom and four and a half times as much of the United States. Railways in Japan are a very efficient means of transportation.
Trains operate according to a tight schedule, and arrive exactly on time.
The Shinkansen links some of Japan's major cities, from Hakata in Kyushu to Morioka in the northern part of Honshu. At top speed, this train can travel 270 kilometers per hour. On the Tokaido and Sanyo Shinkansen lines, there are 400 inter-city train trips each day. The Tohoku and Yamagata lines conduct 159 inter-city trips each day, and the Joetsu line carries 217 trips per day. Besides the Bullet Trains, a busy network of commuter trains and subway lines weaves in and out of the larger cities.