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. Transport in Japan is also very expensive in international comparison, reflecting high tolls and taxes, particularly on automobile transport.
Japan’s spending on roads has been large. The 1.2 million kilometres of paved road are the main means of transport. Japan has left-hand traffic. A single network of high-speed, divided, limited-access toll roads connects major cities, which are operated by toll-collecting enterprises.
Dozens of Japanese railway companies compete in regional and local passenger transport markets; for instance, seven JR Group companies, Kintetsu Railway, Seibu Railway, and Keio Corporation. Often, strategies of these enterprises contain real estate or department stores next to stations. Some 250 high-speed Shinkansen trains connect major cities. All trains are known for punctuality.
There are 176 airports, and the largest domestic airport, Haneda Airport, is Asia’s busiest airport. The largest international gateways are Narita International Airport (Tokyo area), Kansai International Airport (Osaka/Kobe/Kyoto area), and Chūbu Centrair International Airport (Nagoya area). The largest ports include Nagoya Port.
Overview
Prior to the introduction of steam engines and internal combustion engines, Japanese rulers were not very favorable at activating traffic. The reason for this is holding tradition and order and military reasons. In “Nihon Shoki” as well, there are many gods (“Arasami”) that disturb people’s traffic (the “Arasami”) and the existence of local people, even immediately after Taika’s revival, travelers are not contemplating the customs of the area There are descriptions that it is regarded as being problematic that local people have punished themselves for committing them. In order to form a state as a nation, major roads connecting the capital and the prefectures of the countries are also maintained in Japan. However, transportation between rural areas was supposed to help escape farmers, so it was hardly maintained except for major government offices, and it was thought that only in the regional river should be handed over at the Funabashi when carrying the annual contribution to the capital (Extraordinary calendar of “Japanese epoch” in May 20th Kojo). Even during the Edo period, due to military and political reasons, bridges could not be built on large rivers, ban bondage (anti-nuclear policy) and prohibition of building a large ocean ship (part of the law of the samurai) were issued, and reasons for Edo defense Adopted a policy to forbid the logistics using vehicles such as cattle cars and the like on the highway road. For this reason, Japanese roads are rarely paved, and cars using wheels were used only for carrying baggage, such as a large octave, there were only cow carriages. Restrictions on the use of horses were also added. Kawatani and small commercial merchant ships are used to transport goods, and waterways have developed in large cities.
After the Meiji Restoration, Japan will grow to a modern state. It was given priority to build a railway network. Regarding roads, full-scale maintenance began after the Second World War. In the period of high economic growth, a highway, a full-fledged car road, first appeared in Japan (Meishin expressway). After that the maintenance of the Shinkansen and urban expressway began with the Tokyo Olympic Games in 1964 and the Osaka Expo in 1970 and now the expressway network with a total extension of 14000 km has been developed and the maintenance of the Shinkansen has also progressed. However, with the progress of motorization, the decline of the central urban area has been strained in various aspects.
Traffic history
Rite period
In the ancient times, along with the improvement of the rule system, the station system was laid, the road was improved between the capital (Kiuchi) and the district, station stations were placed. This is called an ancient government road, but the ancient government road was developed along the Seo-seku area, which is a regional wide area division.
Segwayo, Gifu: Kiuchi, Saikai road, Nankai road, Sanyo road, San’in way, Tokaido, Higashiyama road, Hokuriku road
Until Sengoku period
Edo Period
With Edo as a new center, improvement of the highway was promoted throughout Japan. With the economic development, water traffic became popular, development of ocean freight passages and maintenance of canals were carried out.
highway
Development of the post office town
Five roads (starting point: Nihonbashi): Tokaido, Nakasendo, Koshu Kaido, Oshu Kaido, Nikko Kaido
Tarbo barrel, Rigaki Sailboard
Magome basket, horse (Majiko), Kitayama ship etc.
From the Meiji to the Second World War
When entering the Meiji period it was necessary to develop transportation network to become a modern state. In order to facilitate maintenance it was built with priority to the railway than the road. Although there were many problems and obstacles in the construction of the railway, after temporary sales began between Shinagawa and Yokohama, sales between Shimbashi and Yokohama began. With this triggered, the construction of the railroad by the public and private was promoted. Tramway trains and subways were maintained in the city, and installation and paving of gas lights were advanced for running of the horse carriage. However, local road improvement did not proceed slowly, and there were many sections that were not suited to the passage of cars on trunk roads.
Rickshaw, horse-drawn carriage railroad, human car railway, etc.: In the early Meiji era
Land land is few and steep mountainous land is many Country land → tunnel
After the Second World War
The development of roads for automobiles did not advance much until the end of the Second World War, and the pavement rate was very low even in the national highway. For the economic recovery, the Nagoya · Kobe Expressway (current Meishin expressway) connecting Nagoya and Kobe was planned, but since the engineers of traffic engineering who can plan the expressway were not in Japan, the United Nations The plan was drawn up requesting. That is the Watkins report issued in 1956. Among them, “Japan’s road is incredibly bad, as industrialized countries, there is no other country than ignorance of the road in this way”. This report is also boosted, and Japan’s road development will progress dramatically.
For railway, conversion from steam locomotive to diesel car (diesel car) and electrification were promoted for speeding up.
In Japan, which was restricted in the development of aircraft due to the defeat of the aircraft, it did not hurt in the field of aircraft manufacturing, but many of the technicians active before the war ended up supporting the growth of the Japanese automobile industry by changing over.
Together with the Tokyo Olympics in 1964, the construction of the Tomei highway and the opening of the Tokaido Shinkansen were followed one after another. The capital highway in Tokyo also opened partly in 1962, which was also the first urban expressway in Japan. From the latter half of the 1960s, the popularity of my cars got into full swing and the number of cars increased sharply (motorization). On the other hand, traffic accidents also increased drastically due to delays in improving the use environment of roads and cars, and it was called traffic war. The appearance of the reckless family also became a problem. As a countermeasure to prevent traffic accidents, walking vehicle separation was carried out by installing crosswalks such as crosswalks. The number of cars owned reached 10 million units in 1971 (Showa 46).
Although the conventional railway stagnates by the wave of progress of motorization, the high-speed passenger railway Shinkansen will grow to the Japanese aorta. The success of the Japanese Shinkansen that fills the gap between automobile and air passenger transportation has increased the momentum to review the railroads that were in a tendency to stagnate and motivated Europe and Asian countries to also introduce high-speed passenger railways.
In Japan, which relies heavily on overseas resources, shipbuilding technology has been developed since the war, and large tankers and other constructions were actively made after the war, together with the steel industry, played a part in Japan’s economy and logistics. The maintenance of the airport was promoted and the air transportation gradually expanded. After the 1980s when the value of yen further increased, business and traveling abroad to overseas became active.
Railway
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 include several track gauges, the most common of which is 1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in) narrow gauge, with 22,301 km of track of which 15,222 km is electrified.
Fukuoka, Kobe, Kyoto, Nagoya, Osaka, Sapporo, Sendai, Tokyo, and Yokohama have subway systems.
Most Japanese people travelled 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, as we know it today, is home to one of the world’s most developed transport networks. Mass transport is well developed in Japan, but the road system lags behind 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 uniquely high population density, and the limited amount of available usable land for road construction.
Shinkansen (bullet train)
The Shinkansen, or “bullet trains”, as they are often known, are the high-speed rail trains that run across Japan. 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 take 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 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 its 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 first Shinkansen line opened between Tokyo and Osaka in 1964, and trains can now make the journey in 2 hours and 25 minutes. Additional Shinkansen lines connect Tokyo to Aomori, Niigata, Kanazawa, and Hakodate and Osaka to Fukuoka and Kagoshima, with new lines under construction to Tsuruga, Sapporo and Nagasaki.
Japan has been developing maglev technology trains, and broke the world maglev speed record in April 2015 with a train travelling at the speed of 603 km/h (375 mph). 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
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. The Foreign Press Center/Japan cites a total length of expressways at 7,641 km (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. The aim of this policy is 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 utilised 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-kilometres.
Recent large infrastructure projects were the construction of the Great Seto Bridge and the Tokyo Bay Aqua-Line (opened 1997).
Although road fatalities have been decreasing, due in part to stricter enforcement of drunk driving laws, 2004 still saw 7,358 deaths on Japanese roads.
Airway
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), Asia’s busiest airport and the world’s 4th busiest airport; 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, Skynet Asia Airways, Air Do, Star Flyer and Fuji Dream Airlines. United Airlines and Delta Air Lines, formerly Northwest Airlines, are major international operators from Narita Airport.
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 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.
Waterways
There are 1770 km of waterways in Japan; seagoing craft ply all coastal inland seas.
There are some 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, Kitakyūshū, Kobe, Kudamatsu, Muroran, Nagoya, Niigata, Osaka, Sakai/Senpoku, Sendai/Shiogama, Shimizu, Shimonoseki, Tokyo, Tomakomai, Wakayama, Yokkaichi, and Yokohama.
Japan has 662 ships with a volume of 1,000 gross register tons (GRT) or over, totaling 13,039,488 gross register tons (GRT) or 18,024,969 tonnes deadweight (DWT). There are 146 bulk ships, 49 cargo ships, 13 chemical tankers, 16 combination bulk, 4 with combination of ore and oil, 25 container, 45 liquefied gas, 9 passenger, 2 passenger and cargo combination ships, 214 petroleum tankers, 22 refrigerated cargo, 48 roll-on/roll-off ships, 9 short-sea passenger, and 60 vehicle carriers (1999 est.).
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
Japan has 84 km of pipelines for crude oil, 322 km for petroleum products, and 1,800 km for natural gas.
Source from Wikipedia