Comment Re:Hai! (Score 1) 111
One reason might be that railways are more efficient in densely populated areas. There express trains can even compete with airplanes. Yesterday we went from Tokyo to Osaka. Flight time would have been ~1h, plus 1h checkin and transfer to/from the airport (~45min. each). The Nozomi Shinkansen took us there in 2:30, and both stations were directly at the center of the cities.
Most of Japan's population is situated in coastal regions, so just a hand full of routes can service all major cities. Imagine how many connections you'd need in the US...