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Shinkansen:
Pros: Stations located in central parts of the city (Tokyo Station is in Marunouchi and Shin-Osaka is in Umeda), if you miss your train the next one comes in 5-10 minutes, no security theater
Cons: One-way ticket between Tokyo and Shin-Osaka is 13,000 yen with little to no discounts ever for non-tourists, employers don't reimburse for Shinkansen commutes as much as they did in the 80s
Airplanes:
Pros: Pound-for-pound cheaper than Shinkansen for train journeys longer than 4h (which is why there's no HND-SDJ service but there's plenty of HND-CTS service), lots of competition (Air Do, Peach Air, Skymark, Jetstar Japan) has driven down prices in the last few years
Cons: Airports located in far flung places (Narita Airport is in podunk Chiba; Kansai Airport is near Sakai which is basically Wakayamashi as far as I'm concerned), security theater, late night flights mean you'll have to get a cab since even the goddamn limousine buses stop running at 23:00
Buses:
Pros: Motherfucking 4,000 yen one-way from Tokyo to Osaka
Cons: Buses get stuck in traffic a lot, the seats that don't have you aching like a motherfucker (like Relax or Sleeper) are only slightly cheaper than flying
