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Chapter 9 Transport

  1. Domestic Transport
  2. International Transport

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NIPPON MARU

NIPPON MARU, on a voyage in the neighboring waters of Kouzu Island, Tokyo. In fiscal 2008, a total of 99.03 million people were transported by passenger ships, which translates to 3.51 billion passenger-kilometers.

 

1. Domestic Transport

Various modes of domestic transport are used in Japan; almost all passenger transport is by motor vehicle and railway, while nearly all freight transport is by motor vehicle and cargo ship. A comparison of data between fiscal 1990 and fiscal 2008 showed a marked growth in motor vehicle transportation for both passengers and freight. Currently, in the face of the increasing importance of CO2 emissions reduction, a series of efforts, including improving the energy efficiency of cars and promoting the broader use of environmentally-friendly cars, resulted in Japan's transport sector recording 235 million tons in CO2 emissions in fiscal 2008, the first success in meeting the emissions target of 240 million to 243 million tons that is the reference level for fiscal 2010 set in the Kyoto Protocol Target Achievement Plan. In an attempt to further reduce emissions, the government is encouraging a shift from driving to public transportation and the development of next-generation low-emission vehicles, etc.

 

Figure 9.1 Composition of Domestic Transport

 

(1) Domestic Passenger Transport

No major changes have been observed in recent years in the volume of domestic passenger transport. In public transportation, among other domains, a variety of actions have been taken to boost ridership, for example, by introducing multiple-use IC (integrated circuit) cards covering different railway/bus operators and bus location systems designed to provide bus location tracking information, as well as varying commute times to relieve road traffic jams on a city- or region-wide scale.

In fiscal 2008, the number of domestic transport passengers was 89.94 billion (almost the same as the previous fiscal year). The total volume of passenger transport was 1.39 trillion passenger-kilometers (down 1.3 percent).

 

Table 9.1 Domestic Passenger Transport

 

In fiscal 2008, the Japan Railways (JR) group reported 8.98 billion passengers (down 0.1 percent from the previous fiscal year) and 253.56 billion passenger-kilometers (down 0.8 percent). Railways other than JR reported 13.99 billion passengers (up 1.0 percent) and 151.03 billion passenger-kilometers (up 0.5 percent).

 

Figure 9.2 Rail Transport by Country (2005)

 

In order to encourage the use of buses, various efforts to improve their convenience have been promoted. Commercial buses transported 4.61 billion passengers (up 1.0 percent from the previous fiscal year) and achieved 73.26 billion passenger-kilometers (up 1.8 percent); both figures increased in fiscal 2008.

Taxi and limousine hire services have marked a long-term downward trend in passengers. They carried 2.03 billion passengers (down 5.2 percent from the previous fiscal year) and reported 10.57 billion passenger-kilometers (down 4.8 percent); both figures of passengers and passenger-kilometers declined in fiscal 2008. Passenger transport via private cars registered 36.03 billion passengers (down 1.6 percent) and 542.30 billion passenger-kilometers (down 3.1 percent).

 

Table 9.2 Number of Motor Vehicles Owned

 

Fiscal 2008 air transport records show that there were 90.66 million passengers (down 4.4 percent from the previous fiscal year), and passenger-kilometers amounted to 80.93 billion (down 4.0 percent).

In fiscal 2008, passenger ships reported 99.03 million passengers (down 1.7 percent from the previous fiscal year) and 3.51 billion passenger-kilometers (down 8.5 percent).

 

(2) Domestic Freight Transport

In the area of domestic freight, a total of 5.14 billion metric tons (down 4.6 percent from the previous fiscal year) of freight was transported for a total of 557.61 billion ton-kilometers (down 4.2 percent) in fiscal 2008.

As for transport tonnage volume in fiscal 2007, motor vehicle transport accounted for more than 90 percent of the total. Major items transported by motor vehicles were: foodstuffs, textiles and household equipment; and wastes and feed. In terms of transport ton-kilometers, cargo ships, next to motor vehicles, accounted for a substantial portion of volume. The principal items transported by cargo ships were nonferrous ores and metals, petroleum products, etc.

 

Table 9.3 Domestic Freight Transport

 

Figure 9.3 Breakdown of Freight Transport (FY2007)

 

2. International Transport

(1) International Passenger Transport

Since 2008, fuel price hikes and global economic downturns have quickly shrunk demand for international air passenger transport with Japanese airlines. In 2009, they transported 15.39 million passengers (down 6.3 percent from the previous year) on international flights, and registered 67.20 billion passenger-kilometers (down 7.7 percent).

The number of Japanese overseas travelers in 2009 dropped from the previous year to 15.45 million (down 3.4 percent). According to reports on arrivals by tourist offices in countries around the world, China, Republic of Korea and the U.S.A. had many Japanese visitors in 2009.

 

Figure 9.4 Japanese Overseas Travelers and Foreign Visitor Arrivals

 

Table 9.4 Japanese Travelers

 

Table 9.5 Foreign Visitors

 

The number of foreign visitors to Japan was 6.79 million in 2009 (down 18.7 percent from the previous year). Broken down by country/region, the number of visitors from Asian countries was highest, totaling 4.81 million persons (down 21.8 percent from the previous year). Among Asian countries, the number of visitors from Republic of Korea was highest, amounting to 1.59 million, a figure that accounted for 23.4 percent of the total number of foreign visitors to Japan.

Of the total number of foreign visitors to Japan, tourists numbered 4.76 million persons, or 70.1 percent of total foreign visitors. The highest number of tourists came from Republic of Korea with 1.15 million travelers, followed by Taiwan with 0.91 million travelers.

 

(2) International Freight Transport

The volume of seaborne foreign transport in 2008 was 866.45 million tons, up 4.0 percent over the previous year. Of this figure, total exports decreased by 15.7 percent to 47.78 million tons, but total imports increased by 3.9 percent to 547.89 million tons.

 

Table 9.6 Seaborne Foreign Transport

 

Air-shipped international freight in 2009 totaled 1.17 million tons in terms of volume (down 10.9 percent from the previous year) and 6.07 billion tons in terms of ton-kilometers (down 18.5 percent).

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