I got out to the middle of fucking nowhere on a mountain by taking the Shinkansen, then a local small train, then a bus, and finally a taxi because I didn't want to wait 20m for a shuttle bus

Compared to California (home, comparable size and layout tbh) it's way easier to get to remote places period thanks to the public transit system

Quite literally to do the same trip I did in Japan in CA I'd have Maybe a slow ass Amtrak line to get me close-ish in twice the time of the Shinkansen and still have an hours drive of my own rented car to get there