Description It's a car. It's a plane. It's a shinkansen, or bullet train. West Japan Railway, known as JR-West, operates passenger train service in the western part of Japan's main island of Honshu, including connections between Osaka and Hakata. Its combined conventional and high-speed routes cover more than 5,000 km (about 3,125 miles) and incorporate more than 1,200 stations. Its Urban Network commuter train moves an average of four million passengers a day in the Kyoto-Osaka-Kobe metropolitan region. The company also provides ferry services and has retail, hotel, and real estate operations connected with its rail network.