> One basic fact of life when I got to Japan was that most Japanese of all
> walks of life just travel around their country far more than Americans do.
>Maybe that's because the longest distance >from Tokyo anywhere
>is about 500 miles?
Yes, but with a lot of remote places, including thousands of miles of shore line and relatively uninhabited areas in the mountainous interior. Also, much of what is Japan is actually space on islands separated by sea (and the jet ferry services are great, too!).
Besides, even the shortest journey starts with the first step.
I can get to just about any place that is any place in Japan using interconnected trains (and then buses for the more outlying areas). Can't do that in the US; you have to get a car and drive. Every trip back to the US brings the memory of monotonous hours spent behind the wheel of a car, doubly dangerous given the jet lag. I don't drive at all while in Japan, though we bought a car so my wife could get to a part-time job in a town where the tram line was shut down.
I believe the US will make the next great step forward when tele-transportation becomes a reality.
Charles Jannuzi