Whether Japan is expensive for travel or not is a relative comparison. Myself not coming from a major world city (read New York or London) I thought local transportation costs for trains, cabs, etc. in large Japanese cities to be expensive. Without a doubt the JR rail pass if used past a certain threshold is cheap travel and Japanese we know are insanely jealous of those of us who have access to the pass. Regular long distance train fares in Japan for any but local trains are very high by our standards and by theirs. We were staggered by the cost undertaken by friends to join us on travel we expensed to rail passes. I cannot comment on air fares, other than to note that trips in US for similar city pairings (though not miles) are obviously all over the map depending on time of purchase and travel conditions. Air fare in the US for "walk up" conditions can be very high.