Transport in Japan is modern and highly developed. Japan's transport sector stands out for its energy efficiency: it uses less energy per person compared to other countries, thanks to a high share of rail transport and low overall travel distances.[1] Transport in Japan is also very expensive in international comparison, reflecting high tolls and taxes, particularly on automobile transport.[2]
Japan's spending on roads has been large.[3] The 1,200,000 kilometres (750,000 mi) of paved road are the main means of transport.[4] Traffic in Japan drives on the left. A single network of high-speed, divided, limited-access toll roads connects major cities, which are operated by toll-collecting enterprises.
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 27,182 km (16,890 mi) include several track gauges, the most common of which is 1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in) narrow gauge, with 22,301 km (13,857 mi) of track of which 15,222 km (9,459 mi) is electrified.[6]
Modern Japan is home to one of the world's most developed transport networks. Mass transport is well developed in Japan, but the road system lags and is inadequate for the number of cars owned in Japan. This is often attributed to the fact that road construction is difficult in Japan because of its very high population density, and the limited amount of available usable land for road construction.
The Shinkansen, or "bullet trains", as they are known colloquially, are the high-speed rail trains that run across Japan.[8] The 2,387 km (1,485 mi) 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 320 km/h (200 mph). Shinkansen trains are known to be very safe, with no accident-related deaths or injuries from passengers in their 50-plus year history.[9] 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.[10] 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.[9]
The first Shinkansen line opened between Tokyo and Osaka in 1964, and trains can now make the journey in 2 hours and 25 minutes.[8] Additional Shinkansen lines connect Tokyo to Aomori, Niigata, Kanazawa, and Hakodate and Osaka to Fukuoka and Kagoshima, with new lines under construction to Tsuruga and Sapporo. A separate line heads out to Nagasaki, albeit through a separate relay service.
Japan has been developing maglev technology trains, and broke the world maglev speed record in April 2015 with a train traveling at the speed of 603 km/h (375 mph).[11] 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.
According to Japan Statistical Yearbook 2015, Japan in April 2012 had approximately 1,215,000 km of roads made up of 1,022,000 km of city, town and village roads, 129,000 km of prefectural roads, 55,000 km of general national highways and 8,050 km of national expressways.[12][13] The Foreign Press Center/Japan cites a total length of expressways at 7,641 km (fiscal 2008).[14] 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.
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,[15]
2019 saw 3,215 deaths, the lowest it has been since 1948, with a rate of 25.4 deaths per million[16] lower than many European nations, and close to the UK's rates.
In Tokyo, road safety is 13 killed per million.[17]
Domestic air travel in Japan has historically been highly regulated. From 1972, the three major domestic airlines (JAL, ANA, and JAS) were allocated certain routes, with JAL and ANA sharing trunk routes, and ANA and JAS sharing local feeder routes. JAL and JAS have since been merged to help compete with ANA. JAL also had a flag-carrier monopoly on international routes until 1986. Airfares were set by the government until 2000, although carriers had the freedom to adjust the standard fares starting in 1995 (when discounts of up to 50% were permitted). Today, fares can be set by carriers, but the government retains the ability to veto fares that are too high.
There are 1770 km of waterways in Japan; seagoing craft ply all coastal inland seas.[22]
There are some 994 ports in Japan as of April 2014.[23] 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.
Japan has 988 ships of 1,000 gross tonnage (GT) or over on its national ship register, totaling 38,053,000 tonnes deadweight (DWT). 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.[24]
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).
^Lipscy Phillip Y., Schipper Lee (2013). "Energy efficiency in the Japanese transport secto". Energy Policy. 56: 248–258. doi:10.1016/j.enpol.2012.12.045.
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