Well, as one guy I know put it

"The difference between England and the US is that in England, 100 miles is a long way, and in the US, 100 years is a long time"

If you think about England/France (the TGV), and Japan, the distances are small. In the US, the distances are HUGE. Remember, the US is a continent. You really don't see transcontinental high speed rail anywhere.

BTW another story RE scale:
I once worked with a guy who had some relatives coming in from Europe (where a country like, say France, fits comfortably in an average state). They asked this question = "Should we see the Statue of Liberty in the Morning, and the Grand Canyon in the afternoon, or the Grand Canyon in the Morning, and the Statue of Liberty in the Afternoon?"

They REALLY thought they were close enough together that you could see both in ONE day. But then again, let's face it, you can drive across the average western European country in a day if you push it