Pictures from my trip to Japan

[Barozi]

Farsala said:

OdinHades said:

I paid 38.040 Yen now for a trip to Kyoto and back. I wouldn't exactly call that cheap. But whatever, at least its fast. =D

Standard fee seems to be 13,320 yen right now, so 26,640 round trip. Local train even cheaper at 8500 yen, but you can make that even cheaper.

Barozi said:

It's honestly not cheap at all. Especially when you consider that everything else is so cheap because of the exchange rate.

The difference is that the ticket price stays the same. In many other countries it's cheaper when you buy in advance or travel during hours when they won't sell as many tickets. That's great when you have to be somewhere on short notice but as a tourist you plan ahead weeks and months in advance and still have to pay the same high price.

Also I checked prices when I used the Shinkansen from Osaka to Tokyo (well I disembarked in Yokohama) and a flight would have cost the same amount.

For example (express train):

Milan to Rome (~570km; 3h15min) is 38 € if you book in advance.

Osaka to Tokyo (~515km;2h20min) is around 85 € currently. And that is with a favourable exchange rate.

As above, 13320 yen, is around 75 euro. Much faster and smoother than Euro trains too.

Yeah so twice as expensive even though everything else is cheaper. Glad you confirmed it yourself. 

Never had a problem with Italian or Spansih high speed trains. Shinkansen is a little faster but at high speeds like that you won't save that much time.