That CA is bad at all of those makes it expensive and hard
In addition to very low competence levels in gov't compared to Japan due to many factors. Sure Japan has financial corruption in construction but it's a known system and they build things treating it as a tax. In CA there are many more parties who all attempt to hold construction projects hostage.
The maglev Chuo Shinkansen, originally meant to be finished by 2030 or so, has been stuck in limbo for several years now because the prefecture of Shizuoka refuses to issue the necessary permits.
Nitpick: this part isn't correct. There's no federal legal zoning or direction or anything federal at all. Japan doesn't have a federal government; like most countries, it has a unitary government. The US is unusual this way, along with Germany and Russia.
But otherwise, you're right. It's much easier to build stuff here for all those reasons.
related: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_land_law
Looking it up, I see you're right. They have national zoning laws but even there, things do seem to be getting more complicated.
California has a land area of 165,000mi^2. Japan has a land area of 145,000mi^2.
California population is 39M. Japan population is 125M.
