Japan’s sleek Shinkansen bullet trains zoomed onto the railway scene in the 1960s, shrinking travel times and inspiring a global revolution in high-speed rail travel that continues to this day.

There are actually a bunch of really cool cities near Tokyo, many of which will deeply enrich your Japan trip — without the need for an expensive Shinkansen train ticket.

The new station structure, measuring about 108 square feet, will be located in the southern prefecture of Wakayama, 60 miles south of Osaka, Japan’s third most populated city, West Japan Railway ...