Built to connect Tokyo and Nagano in time for the 1998 Winter Olympics the Nagano Shinkansen was the first section of the Hokuriku Shinkansen that now runs to Kanazawa,
That line will be extended to Tsuruga and eventually Osaka.
Asama services, named for an active volcano alongside the line take a minimum of 79 minutes to complete the journey, travelling along the Tohoku and Joetsu Shinkansen to Takasaki before branching off onto the first stage of the Hokuriku Shinkansen. The services replaced the Shinetsu Main Line limited express services which took 2 hours 50 minutes from Tokyo's Ueno Station to Nagano.
After leaving Tokyo, trains stop at Ueno and Ōmiya on the Tōhoku Shinkansen, Kumagaya, Honjō-Waseda and Takasaki on the Joetsu Shinkansen, then Annaka-Haruna, Karuizawa and Sakudaira on the run into Nagano.
The Hokuriku Shinkansen extension to Kanazawa opened in March 2015, with the 113-km extension from Kanazawa to Tsuruga, approved for construction in June 2012 scheduled to be completed in 2025.
Route details and maps: http://www.jreast.co.jp/e/routemaps/naganoshinkansen.html