>>1132638It has always been about convenience - even the quasi business Class J of JL is cheaper than the Shinkansen on occasion (and sometimes JL's F is the same price as a Green Car seat for longer runs). But with the exception of Hokkaido, there's a Shinkansen station every 30 km and easy city transfers. Airports like HIJ and ITM are in shit locations too. There's no need to be competitive if you own one of the most profitable lines on earth with no apparent trend towards failure (again except for Hokkaido Shinkansen, which goes from nowhere to nowhere)
The airlines own distances past Tokyo-Okayama/Hiroshima, but any less than that and the seamlessness wins. Elsewhere, Japan is a largely premium travel market - same reason award seat availability on JL is usually worse compared to other OW airlines
In fact, Class J seems very similar to Green Car. Domestic business class hard product, but everything else is minimal - just some light snacks and drinks
