Shinkansen boost to small towns

On the right track: An E6 (red) and E5 (green) Shinkansen train coupled together at the Omiya Shinkansen station. Coupling occurs when two trains share the same route at first, but separate with one going on another route later on.

SAKU (Nagano): Before the Shinkansen was chosen to stop here, Fumihiro Yanagisawa, 52, felt stuck in a town that was going nowhere.

Its main industry – agriculture – is on a slow decline. With Tokyo 173km away and Saku far from other cities, many like him felt dwarfed by city folk.