We could have picked off another 7 if we hadn't got off at Hiroshima, but had stayed on the third train to Fukuoka. But we wanted to be in Hiroshima that evening, and not too late. But if anyone ever want to do the maximum number of stations on Shinkansen without using any other form of transport or retracing their steps, then the answer is 56, from Akita to Fukuoka, and it's not far over 10 hours, changing at Tokyo and Shin-Osaka.
We went through 9 of the rest the day before (going up to Akita via Niigata), taking our total to 58, or 66% of the entire system.
OK, I think we know Shinkansen now.
Now, 2009 is Montréal. I'm already looking at the The Canadian.