Honestly the biggest reason might be the population density and structure in Japan. People live and travel between large metropolises, and those are relatively close, so this makes train travel more cost-effective.

Otherwise, this "only" makes the shinkansen great. Because regional and local trains are pretty much the same as any developed country ( albeit very very punctual ). Great train networks aren't limited to Japan. European trains fare the same except some lack of punctuality, and the lack of central backbone, due to the amount of international borders. Chinese high speed rail is actually better quality-wise and more connected than in Japan, but local trains are meh and extremely crowded. Honestly it feels like the US is the outlier here, because they had decent rail and managed to fuck it up in favour of road traffic.

Japan got their first trains second hand from the UK, this understandably traumatized them so much that they went on to make the best trains in the world.

While the author correctly identifies ways the west subsidizes cars, the neoliberal prescriptions are horseshit.

I think that though we are a railway company, we consider ourselves a city-shaping company. In Europe for instance, railway companies simply connect cities through their terminals. That is a pretty normal way of operating in this industry, whereas what we do is completely different: we create cities and then, as a utility facility, we add the stations and the railways to connect them one with another.

This model was pioneered in the 1950s by what became Hankyu Railways. Hankyu’s network connects central Osaka to its northern suburbs, as well as Kyoto and Kobe. Its innovative founder Kobayashi Ichizo first built suburban housing, then a department store at the terminal station; he then created a hot spring resort, a zoo, and his own distinctive brand of all-women musical theater, the Takarazuka Revue. He also began to run bus services to and from his stations. Other companies emulated Hankyu’s example: Tokyo Disneyland is a collaboration between Disney and the Keisei Railway, while Hanshin in Osaka owns the Hanshin Tigers baseball team.

Found it really interesting how railway companies diversify their investments and reduce risk. Smart.

2nd finest in the world*

Still something to be proud of.

According to this article, John Major came so close to giving the UK a world-class railway system. A bit more deregulation and some light-handed tweaking of incentive structures would have done it.

For HSR the shape and geography probably also plays a role. It’s stretched out and the hills limit the possible routes. Similar situation in Italy.

It seems countries have a harder time building mesh networks for HSR.

talks a little about the history here, and Vietnam's proposed mega HSR project.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6R31yvR8f7E

the HSR in Laos is awesome , ive ridden

And our service is generally getting worse and costing more. JR companies are private, for-profit companies trying to squeeze as much profit to pay their upper members crazy bonuses at the expense of the people.