Question: How many shinkansen trains connect major cities?
About the article "Japan", section "Infrastructure".

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JR Central and JR West operate high-speed trains on the Tōkaidō-Sanyō Shinkansen line.
Shin-Ōsaka Station acts as the Shinkansen terminal station, though the two lines are physically joined, and many trains offer through service.
This station is connected to Ōsaka Station at Umeda by the JR Kyoto Line and the subway Midōsuji Line.
Shinkansen services also stop at Kyoto Station and Shin-Kobe Station.
All Shinkansen trains including Nozomi stop at Shin-Ōsaka Station and provide connections to other major cities in Japan, such as Kyoto, Nagoya, Yokohama and Tokyo to the east, and Kobe, Okayama, Hiroshima, Kitakyushu and Fukuoka to the west. 
JR Central and JR West operate high-speed trains on the Tōkaidō-Sanyō Shinkansen line.
Shin-Ōsaka Station is the Shinkansen terminal in Osaka.
This station is connected to Ōsaka Station at Umeda by the JR Kyoto Line and the subway Midōsuji Line.
All Shinkansen trains including "Nozomi" stop at Shin-Ōsaka Station and provide access to other major cities in Japan, such as Kyoto, Nagoya, Yokohama, and Tokyo to the east, and Kobe, Okayama, Hiroshima, Kitakyushu and Fukuoka to the west.
On March 12, 2011, JR West and JR Kyushu introduced new Shinkansen services, "Mizuho" and "Sakura", linking Osaka with Kumamoto, Kagoshima, and other cities in central and south Kyushu. 
Regional trains usually connect between towns and cities, rather than purely linking major population hubs like inter-city trains, and serve local traffic demand in relatively rural area. 
Japan has six main regional passenger railway companies, known collectively as Japan Railways Group or simply as JR. Four JR companies operate the "bullet trains" on very fast and frequent Shinkansen lines that link all the larger cities, including Tokyo, Yokohama, Nagoya, Kyoto, Osaka, Hiroshima, Fukuoka and many more.
Many other cities are covered by a network of JR's "limited express" inter-city trains on , narrow gauge, lines.
Major cities are covered by convenient train services of every one hour or more frequent.
In addition to the JR Group, Japan has several major regional carriers such as the Kintetsu and Nagoya Railroads. 
In Japan, railways are a major means of passenger transportation, especially for mass and high-speed transport between major cities and for commuter transport in metropolitan areas.
Seven Japan Railways Group companies, state-owned until 1987, cover most parts of Japan.
There also are railway services operated by private rail companies, regional governments, and companies funded by both regional governments and private companies.
Total railways of 27,182 km include several track gauges, the most common of which is narrow gauge, with 22,301 km of track of which 15,222 km is electrified.
Fukuoka, Kobe, Kyoto, Nagoya, Osaka, Sapporo, Sendai, Tokyo, and Yokohama have subway systems.
Most Japanese people traveled on foot until the later part of the 19th century.
The first railway was built between Tokyo and Yokohama in 1872 and many more developed.
Japan now has one of the world's most developed transportation networks.
Mass transportation is well developed in Japan, but the road system lags behind and is inadequate for the number of cars.
Road construction is difficult because of the high areas of population and the limited amount of usable land.
Shinkansen are the high speed trains in Japan and they are known as bullet trains.
About 250 Shinkansen trains operate daily.
The fastest shinkansen trains are the N700 series "Nozomi", which operate at a maximum speed of 300 km/h.
Shinkansen trains are known to be very punctual.
A train is recorded as late if it does not arrive at the specified time.
In 2003, the average delay per train on the Tokaido Shinkansen was 6 seconds.