The Japan Rail network is a wonder of the modern world. I’ve always been a fan of trains because there’s something supernatural about them: when you take a bus or an airplane you’re traveling through ordinary space, but on a train you’re stepping through a wormhole out of our universe and into a topological graph, from which you reemerge somewhere new. (And also I guess they’re good for the environment and stuff.) One of the things I’ve always liked about New England is that it takes trains seriously, at least on a regional level.
Japan takes trains seriously on a national level. Their rail map looks something like our highway map. The train goes everywhere. Local trains will take you to every neighborhood in Tokyo; regional trains will take you to obscure villages several hours from civilization; and the Shinkansen will whisk you from Tokyo and Kyoto at 150 MPH. Even the several-hours-from-anywhere trains run at least once an hour; the complete timetable is the size of a phonebook.
The trains run on time, up to the minute. Even in the rare case of a late train, “late” usually means two or three minutes. On the Limited Express Hakucho, we sat in a snowstorm for an hour, and yet arrived on time. I can only assume the JR people have a deal with the people who control the weather; they probably have enough corporate clout. Virtually every city we visited has a JR Tower of at least ten stories; the one in Tokyo is a skyscraper overlooking the tracks of their most impressive and fearsome station. The stations themselves are often epic affairs with numerous gates and attached shopping malls. A JR station is sometimes the economic hub of a neighborhood.
The Japan Rail Company tries to be something of a force for social reform. They lead the nation in providing English signage, and it’s usually coherent. They provide non-smoking sections in a nation where most establishments don’t. Actually, JR has split into six separate companies in recent years, three serving eastern, central, and western Honshu, and one for each of the other islands; but they all seem to have the same policies. Trains are clean, and employees are polite. The conductor always greets the passengers and bows before collecting the tickets. There is always a snack car.
Japan Rail isn’t the only train system, either. Many cities have subways; Tokyo’s is comprehensive and Kyoto’s and Sapporo’s are better than any American urban rail west of Chicago. In Tokyo and Kyoto there are other regional lines competing with JR.
When you can board a train in a neon metropolis, change lines three times without exiting the system, and get off in front of a 1400-year-old temple, you are having a qualitatively different experience than you get from American transit systems.