Overview of the 2026 White Paper on Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism | Chapter 8Transport Policies for an Inclusive, Safe Society

The white paper views the creation of a safe and secure society through multiple policy areas: inclusive living environments, disaster prevention and risk reduction, building and transportation safety, and crisis management and national security. The background includes population aging, declining birthrates, mobility and housing constraints affecting persons with disabilities and others, the intensification and increasing frequency of disasters caused by climate change, the growing threat of major earthquakes, aging infrastructure, and international terrorism and cyber threats.

The common foundation of these measures is the approach of combining not only physical measures, such as facilities and structures, but also standards, plans, training, information provision, support systems, and cooperation among relevant organizations to improve both everyday convenience and response capabilities during disasters and accidents.

In the field of an inclusive society, the government combines mandatory compliance with mobility-facilitation standards for newly constructed facilities and other facilities under the Barrier-Free Act, efforts required to bring existing facilities into compliance, and the reporting and publication of operator training and initiative plans. From fiscal 2026, a new barrier-free development target with a five-year target period has taken effect.

Natural-disaster measures span rivers, sewerage, erosion control, coasts, roads, water and sewerage systems, ports, airports, and railways, and are developed as an integrated disaster-prevention and risk-reduction policy covering prevention, evacuation, emergency restoration, reconstruction, and the extension of facility service life.

For residents, barriers to using stations, roads, housing, parks, and public transportation will be reduced, making it easier for child-rearing households, older people, persons with disabilities, low-income people, and others to continue living in their communities. Improvements to stroller-friendly environments, child-rearing housing, housing support, and telework hubs will also support balancing childcare and work and help prevent isolation.

Businesses are expected to provide barrier-free facilities, ensure the safety of employees and users, maintain operations during disasters, secure alternatives for transportation and logistics, and address cybersecurity. At the same time, support systems, data provision, public-private agreements, and technical assistance form a foundation for businesses to improve safety and business continuity.

Communities are expected to develop disaster-preparedness capabilities through evacuation sites and routes, disaster-prevention parks, basin storage, disaster knowledge transmission, regional transportation, and public-private training, enabling residents to understand risks and act for themselves. Local governments need to establish plans and implementation systems spanning land use, housing, welfare, transportation, rivers, and medical and educational facilities.

In policy operations, the direction is clear toward continuous improvement through role-sharing among the national government, local governments, operators, residents, researchers, and relevant ministries, supported by the PDCA cycle, training, audits, data analysis, and accident investigations. Disaster-prevention and safety policy is expanding from the development of individual facilities to strengthening society as a whole, including networks and information.

For public transportation, newly constructed or substantially improved passenger facilities and newly introduced vehicles and other equipment must comply with standards, while support is provided for non-step buses, lift-equipped buses, welfare taxis, passenger-ship terminals, and railway stations. In April 2025, mental-disability fare discounts were introduced by all JR passenger companies and major private railway companies. For housing and buildings, measures use loans from the Japan Housing Finance Agency, design standards for rental housing, standard specifications for public housing and other housing, building design standards, and building standards and floor-area-ratio exceptions.

In pedestrian spaces, measures advance wide sidewalks, improvements to steps, slopes, and gradients, level-crossing safety, utility-pole removal, and guidance blocks for persons with visual impairments. In urban parks, steps are removed and accessible toilets are developed. For gender mainstreaming, a promotion headquarters was established in May 2025, and from October of the same year a network meeting was held with participation from more than 20 people from private companies and employees of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism.

Child-rearing support promotes public housing with favorable child-rearing environments, the use of vacant houses, reductions in housing-loan interest rates based on the number of children, housing-support corporations, and integrated development of public rental housing and child-rearing facilities. Covered measures also include playgrounds and safety measures in parks, child-rearing support facilities at expressway service areas and roadside stations, stroller spaces and infant facilities on public transportation, and child-rearing taxis. Telework is promoted by designating November every year as Telework Month.

Housing support for older people and others combines registered housing that does not refuse people requiring housing assistance, housing support residences, housing support councils, and housing for older people with services. In transportation, subsidies under the Regional Public Transportation Securing, Maintenance, and Improvement Program and tax measures encourage the introduction of non-step buses, universal-design taxis, and welfare taxis. For mobility support in pedestrian spaces, a working group on open-data use was established in July 2025, and a symposium was held in January 2026.

For disaster prevention and risk reduction, the government uses the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Disaster Prevention and Risk Reduction Headquarters and the Disaster Prevention and Risk Reduction Project to be Tackled through an All-Out Effort as its framework, setting themes each fiscal year and carrying out budgeting, institutional reform, implementation, and verification. Water-disaster measures combine flood-control plans reflecting climate change, basin flood control, levees, river-channel excavation, retarding basins, diversion channels, dams, rainwater storage and infiltration, land-use guidance, and evacuation information.

Preparations for water disasters include the use of underground spaces, measures to prevent repeat disasters, internal-water measures, flood-fighting training, voluntary flood defense, flood forecasts and water-level information, flood-inundation assumption areas, hazard maps, My Timeline, XRAIN, the Water Disaster Risk Line, Flood KIKIKURU, and plans to extend facility service life. Facilities used by people requiring special consideration must prepare evacuation security plans and conduct training, and the December 2025 revision clarified notifications of flooding and other events.

For earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanoes, storm surges, and snow disasters, measures combine plans for the Nankai Trough and other hazards, seismic retrofitting of housing, buildings, and public facilities, multilayered tsunami defenses, volcanic erosion control, monitoring of active volcanoes, storm-surge inundation assumption areas, collaborative protection, preventive road closures, avalanche-prevention facilities, and disaster weather information. From late May 2026, new disaster weather information corresponding to warning levels will be operated for river flooding, heavy rain, sediment disasters, and storm surges.

Crisis management uses TEC-FORCE, liaison officers, JETT, drainage pump vehicles, satellite communications, drones, DiMAPS, practical disaster-prevention training, and business continuity plans. In fiscal 2025, a total of approximately 3,000 person-days were dispatched to 17 disasters, and damage to public civil-engineering facilities was reported at approximately 233.9 billion yen and 5,567 sites as of the end of March 2026.

Transportation safety management requires the appointment of a chief safety management officer and the preparation of safety management regulations. In fiscal 2025, 262 operators were evaluated; 3,466 people attended national seminars and 5,527 attended accredited seminars. Railway measures advance level-crossing safety, platform doors, and facility inspections and renewals. The target for platform doors is 4,000 platforms overall and 900 platforms at stations used by at least 100,000 passengers per day from fiscal 2026 through fiscal 2030.

Road measures advance Zone 30 Plus, school-route inspections, big-data use, four-laning of expressways, utility-pole removal, and regular inspections of road bridges and tunnels. The number of traffic-accident fatalities in 2025 was 2,547, a decrease of 116 people, or 4.4%, from the previous year. Road facilities include approximately 730,000 road bridges and approximately 10,000 road tunnels; approximately 60,000 bridges require action before the next inspection, and the repair completion rate for bridges managed by local governments was approximately 32% at the end of fiscal 2024.