When my wife and I visited Japan, her Tokyo-based friend came with us on the Shinkansen for the first part of our trip. If I remember right, it cost her somethi

When my wife and I visited Japan, her Tokyo-based friend came with us on the Shinkansen for the first part of our trip. If I remember right, it cost her something like $200 to ride the train to Nagoya and back. Now, that was something like 200 miles, but still, commuting via Shinkansen would not be cheap. Edit: it was cheaper for us because we paid $250 for a 7-day Japan Rail Pass which let us ride almost every Shinkansen and almost every local train as much as we wanted. Highly recommended if you're planning a trip to Japan and want to get out of Tokyo.