My experience from my trip to Europe in 2004 was that unlimited tourist rail passes (like the Eurail pass) are worth it if you're on a whirlwind tour and are making heavy use of the public transit system, but if you're only traveling between two or three cities you'll be lucky to break even. Also, the passes often don't cover the most convenient trains.
Well since I'm on a whirlwind tour of Japan, I picked up the Japan Rail Pass before I left the states. It was something of a gamble since I never had an itinerary (I still don't—maybe I'll go back to Tokyo today?) but my particular travel style isn't to stay in one spot for very long.
I bought my seven-day pass for ¥28,900 and by my running tab, I estimate that my total train fare so far has been about ¥70,000. It's easy to rack up the kilometers miles when taking the Shinkansen daily across the country.
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