I suspect you would see the exact same trend comparing Japan and the U.S. in transit, education, and many other services. The U.S. spends more per capita to get less.

The US is a wealthier country and wages are higher here than Japan.

The median equivalised household disposable income of a US household is over twice that of a household in Japan.

This is one of many reasons why it’s so misleading to compare prices across countries in a vacuum. All of the people doing the work for those education, transportation, and other services and all of their inputs aren’t going to work for Japan-equivalent pay when they’re living in the United States.

Not in iPhones!