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> even the small, out of the way, rural towns are still connected via passenger train

As someone who lives in one such place: no, they are not connected by train. Here in Aomori you can't go anywhere without a car. The whole prefecture is how you describe the US.

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Thank you for that context. I had a feeling something like that would be the case. I suppose it would be more correct to be talking about the "idea" of Japan as it is seen by the US. There is probably a similar charm to NYC or Montana cattle-land or whatever as it is perceived abroad. Not exactly incorrect, but also not really an accurate representative of the whole, even if narrowed to "just NYC" or "just Montana cattle-country" parts of it.

Japan has some awesome public transit but at the end of the day, people talk about Japan as if it was just Tokyo. A non-American who has only visited NYC or Chicago might think that America as a whole had good decent public transit.

I’ve been to Japan 4 times and have driven in 25 US states. Rural areas just tend to be car dominated. A few towns have charm but most are just where regular people work and live.

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