[seanmcdirmid]

Tokyo to Nagoya (Japan's 4th largest city, and 3rd largest metro) seems really reasonable, especially since it is midpoint to Osaka, and that's where they eventually want the maglev to go. The idea is probably more to add capacity to the Shinkansen network then to replace air travel, and faster trains do allow you to make more trips a day. The Tokaido shinkansen is probably just full, or close to full, and this is one way to expand capacity (the route is different, so they still need to keep the old one around to serve communities between).