Transport in Japan

, Tokyo in Kumamoto In Japan, railways are a major means of passenger transport, especially for mass and high-speed transport between major cities and for commuter transport in metropolitan areas. Seven Japan Railways Group companies, state-owned until 1987, cover most parts of Japan. There also are railway services operated by private rail companies, regional governments, and companies funded by both regional governments and private companies. Total railways of include several track gauges, the most common of which is narrow gauge, with of track of which is electrified. Hiroshima, Saitama, Fukuoka, Kobe, Kyoto, Nagoya, Osaka, Sapporo, Sendai, Tokyo, and Yokohama have subway systems. Most Japanese people traveled on foot until the later part of the 19th century. The first railway was built between Tokyo's Shimbashi Station and Yokohama's former Yokohama Station (now Sakuragichō Station) in 1872. Many more railways developed soon afterward. Japan has one of the world’s most developed transport systems, with railways acting as the core of passenger transport. Car ownership is high, but road development has not kept pace with demand. This can be explained partly by the dense urban areas and limitation of land, making large-scale road expansion difficult. Shinkansen (bullet train) and Gala-Yuzawa Line The Shinkansen, or "bullet trains", as they are known colloquially, are the high-speed rail trains that run across Japan. The of 8 Shinkansen lines run on completely separate lines from their commuting train counterparts, with a few exceptions. Shinkansen takes up a large portion of the long-distance travel in Japan, with the whole system carrying over 10 billion passengers in its lifetime. 1,114,000 journeys are made daily, with the fastest train being the JR East E5 and E6 series trains, which operate at a maximum speed of . Shinkansen trains are known to be very safe, with no accident-related deaths or injuries from passengers in their 50-plus year history. Shinkansen trains are also known to be very punctual, following suit with all other Japanese transport; in 2003, the average delay per train on the Tokaido Shinkansen was a mere 6 seconds. Japan has been trying to sell its Shinkansen technology overseas, and has struck deals to help build systems in India, Thailand, and the United States. The Chūō Shinkansen, a commercial maglev service, is currently under construction from Tokyo to Nagoya and Osaka, and when completed in 2045 will cover the distance in 67 minutes, half the time of the current Shinkansen. ==Road==

) above the city road (Japan National Route 298) According to Japan Statistical Yearbook 2015 , Japan in April 2012 had approximately of roads made up of  km of city, town and village roads, of prefectural roads, of general national highways and of national expressways. The Foreign Press Center/Japan cites a total length of expressways at (fiscal 2008). A single network of high-speed, divided, limited-access toll roads connects major cities on Honshu, Shikoku and Kyushu. Hokkaido has a separate network, and Okinawa Island has a highway of this type. In the year 2005, the toll collecting companies, formerly Japan Highway Public Corporation, have been transformed into private companies in public ownership, and there are plans to sell parts of them. This policy aims to encourage competition and decrease tolls. Road passenger and freight transport expanded considerably during the 1980s as private ownership of motor vehicles greatly increased along with the quality and extent of the nation's roads. Bus companies including the JR Bus companies operate long-distance bus services on the nation's expanding expressway network. In addition to relatively low fares and deluxe seating, the buses are well utilized because they continue service during the night when air and train services are limited. The cargo sector grew rapidly in the 1980s, recording 274.2 billion tonne-kilometres in 1990. The freight handled by motor vehicles, mainly trucks, in 1990, was over 6 billion tonnes, accounting for 90 percent of domestic freight tonnage and about 50 percent of tonne-kilometers. Recent large infrastructure projects were the construction of the Great Seto Bridge and the Tokyo Bay Aqua-Line (opened 1997). Road safety Road fatalities have decreased in Japan, due in part to stricter enforcement of drunk driving laws: • 2004 saw 7,358 deaths on Japanese roads, • 2017 had 3,694 deaths for 125 million population, • 2019 saw 3,215 deaths, the lowest it has been since 1948, with a rate of 25.4 deaths per million lower than many European nations, and close to the UK's rates. In Tokyo, road safety is 13 killed per million. ==Air==

, Osaka In 2013, Japan had the fourth largest passenger air market in the world with 105,913,000 passengers. In 2013 Japan had 98 airports. The main international gateways are Narita International Airport (Tokyo area), Kansai International Airport (Osaka/Kobe/Kyoto area), and Chūbu Centrair International Airport (Nagoya area). The main domestic hub is Tokyo International Airport (Haneda Airport), by passenger traffic the third-busiest in Asia and the fourth-busiest in the world in 2018, but not in the top ten in 2022; other major traffic hubs include Osaka International Airport, New Chitose Airport outside Sapporo, and Fukuoka Airport. 14 heliports are estimated to exist (1999). The two main airlines are Japan Airlines and All Nippon Airways. Other passenger carriers include Skymark Airlines, Solaseed Air, Air Do, StarFlyer and Fuji Dream Airlines. United Airlines and Delta Air Lines, formerly Northwest Airlines, are major international operators from Narita Airport. From the early 1970s under Japan’s “45/47 regime”, the government allocated route rights among the three major carriers of that time. JAL for international and trunk domestic routes, ANA for trunk and local domestic services, and JAS for local/domestic routes. Domestic airfares in Japan were subject to government regulation until around 2000. Discount fare schemes were introduced in the mid-1990s, allowing reductions of up to about 50%. JAL and JAS merged in 2002/2004, reducing the number of major domestic carriers. ==Maritime==

on the Inland Sea near Miyajima, Hiroshima There are approximately of waterways in Japan; seagoing craft ply all coastal inland seas. There are 994 ports in Japan as of April 2014. There are overlapping classifications of these ports, some of which are multi-purpose, e.g. cargo, passenger, naval, and fishery. The five designated "super" container ports are Yokkaichi, Yokohama, Nagoya, Kobe, and Osaka. 23 are designated major/international, 125 designated as important, while there are also purely fisherman ports. The twenty-three major seaports designated as special, important ports by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism: Chiba, Fushiki/Toyama, Himeji, Hiroshima, Kawasaki, Kitakyushu, Kobe, Kudamatsu, Muroran, Nagoya, Niigata, Osaka, Sakai/Senpoku, Sendai/Shiogama, Shimizu, Shimonoseki, Tokyo, Tomakomai, Wakayama, Yokkaichi, and Yokohama. Japan has 988 ships of or over on its national ship register, totaling . However, only 17% of Japanese-owned capacity is registered in Japan. UNCTAD estimates that 224 million dwt of tonnage is controlled by Japanese owners, making Japan the second largest beneficial owner of tonnage after Greece. Ferries connect Hokkaido to Honshu, and Okinawa Island to Kyushu and Honshu. They also connect other smaller islands and the main islands. The scheduled international passenger routes are to China, Russia, South Korea, and Taiwan. Coastal and cross-channel ferries on the main islands decreased in routes and frequencies following the development of bridges and expressways but some are still operating (as of 2007). ==Pipelines==

As of the early 21st century, Japan has of pipelines for crude oil, for petroleum products, and for natural gas.More recent data from the IEA indicates the total natural gas network, including local distribution, has expanded to over 261,000 km. ==By region==

• Transport in Greater Tokyo • Transport in Keihanshin • Transport in Greater Nagoya • Transport in Fukuoka-Kitakyushu ==References==