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A train of the Uedadentetsu Bessho Line, a railroad that operates on the 11.6-kilometer route from Ueda Station to Bessho-Onsen Station in Nagano Prefecture. It runs for approximately 30 minutes across Shiodadaira in Ueda City, connecting 15 stations. The route is flanked by vast stretches of lush, idyllic scenery, and serves a large number of cultural properties as well as universities and an industrial park, functioning as a research and development hub.
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 2009 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 230 million tons in CO2 emissions in fiscal 2009. This marked the second consecutive year of success in meeting the emissions target of 240 million to 243 million tons, which 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.
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 2009, the number of domestic transport passengers was 89.50 billion (down 0.5 percent from the previous fiscal year). The total volume of passenger transport was 1.37 trillion passenger-kilometers (down 1.7 percent).
In fiscal 2009, the Japan Railways (JR) group reported 8.84 billion passengers (down 1.6 percent from the previous fiscal year) and 244.25 billion passenger-kilometers (down 3.7 percent). Railways other than JR reported 13.88 billion passengers (down 0.8 percent) and 149.66 billion passenger-kilometers (down 0.9 percent).
In order to encourage the use of buses, various efforts to improve their convenience have been promoted. Commercial buses transported 4.48 billion passengers (down 2.8 percent from the previous fiscal year) and achieved 71.21 billion passenger-kilometers (down 2.8 percent); both figures decreased in fiscal 2009.
Taxi and limousine hire services have marked a long-term downward trend in passengers. They carried 1.95 billion passengers (down 3.8 percent from the previous fiscal year) and reported 10.16 billion passenger-kilometers (down 3.9 percent); both figures of passengers and passenger-kilometers declined in fiscal 2009. Passenger transport via private cars registered 35.73 billion passengers (down 0.8 percent) and 533.50 billion passenger-kilometers (down 1.6 percent).
Fiscal 2009 air transport records show that there were 84 million passengers (down 7.5 percent from the previous fiscal year), and passenger-kilometers amounted to 75.20 billion (down 7.1 percent).
In fiscal 2009, passenger ships reported 92 million passengers (down 6.9 percent from the previous fiscal year) and 3.07 billion passenger-kilometers (down 12.5 percent).
In the area of domestic freight, a total of 4.83 billion metric tons (down 6.1 percent from the previous fiscal year) of freight was transported for a total of 523.59 billion ton-kilometers (down 6.1 percent) in fiscal 2009.
As for transport tonnage volume in fiscal 2009, 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.
Since 2008, fuel price hikes and global economic downturns have quickly shrunk demand for international air passenger transport with Japanese airlines. In 2010, they transported 14.57 million passengers (down 5.3 percent from the previous year) on international flights, and registered 63.35 billion passenger-kilometers (down 5.7 percent).
The number of Japanese overseas travelers in 2010 rose from the previous year to 16.64 million (up 7.7 percent). According to reports on arrivals by tourist offices in countries around the world, China, the U.S.A. and Republic of Korea had many Japanese visitors in 2010.
The number of foreign visitors to Japan was 8.61 million in 2010 (up 26.8 percent from the previous year). Broken down by country/region, the number of visitors from Asian countries was highest, totaling 6.53 million persons (up 35.6 percent from the previous year). Among Asian countries, the number of visitors from Republic of Korea was highest, amounting to 2.44 million, a figure that accounted for 28.3 percent of the total number of foreign visitors to Japan.
Of the total number of foreign visitors to Japan, tourists numbered 6.36 million persons, or 73.9 percent of total foreign visitors. The highest number of tourists came from Republic of Korea with 1.96 million travelers, followed by Taiwan with 1.14 million travelers.
The volume of seaborne foreign transport in 2009 was 823.85 million tons, down 4.9 percent over the previous year. Of this figure, total exports decreased by 5.9 percent to 44.96 million tons, and total imports decreased by 16.4 percent to 458.00 million tons.
Air-shipped international freight in 2010 totaled 1.32 million tons in terms of volume (up 13.5 percent from the previous year) and 6.66 billion tons in terms of ton-kilometers (up 9.8 percent).
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