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I don't think that's necessarily bad being private.
Now if the costs are crazy high and the service is bad, then that's one thing. But Japan's rail system is well maintained and seen as an important asset.
What's more given the style of settlement of densely populated, sea locked Japan Islands, such emphasis on a rail system seems almost elementary (at least to me).
Europe I think is a better comparison, UK aside most countries collective transport systems are public. Also Europe has larger share of car based transport than Japan (in many cases surprisingly high in UK, France and Germany). And even in the case of Japan and UK, they were originally publically own assets that were highly developed and established a huge presence and function in the state of the nation. They could AFFORD to be privatized.
You privatize the American passenger rail network and it'd go belly up save for the DC-Boston lines maybe.
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