Transport Policy for Today’s Needs

This chapter covers transport administration measures ranging from recovery and reconstruction to plans for national spatial development and social infrastructure, transport, maritime affairs, land, public-private partnerships, and policy evaluation. Against a backdrop of population decline, aging, disaster risks, and aging infrastructure, it explains the implementation of plans and systems that take account of regional futures and facility maintenance.

Regional transport is described as providing access to services essential to daily life, including shopping, medical care, and education.

Infrastructure is a foundation that supports regional prosperity, and analysis of its stock effects and efforts to enhance those effects are considered important.

After the Noto Peninsula earthquake and heavy rains, infrastructure recovery and community reconstruction have been pursued as prerequisites for restoring the lives and livelihoods of affected people, with projects advanced while listening to local voices. All emergency measures at urgently affected sites have been completed, and function recovery measures and permanent restoration are progressing. Areas affected by the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami are in the final phase of restoring and developing core infrastructure and rebuilding communities. In areas affected by the Fukushima nuclear disaster, infrastructure needed for residents to return will be developed over the 5 years from FY2026; in areas targeted for lifting evacuation orders, restoration alongside decontamination, urban development, and tourism promotion are being pursued.

Under the Act on Tsunami Disaster Prevention Community Development, as of the end of March 2026, tsunami inundation assumptions had been established by 40 prefectures, tsunami disaster alert areas had been designated by 31 prefectures, and a tsunami disaster special alert area had been designated in Izu City, Shizuoka Prefecture; comprehensive promotion plans had been prepared by 24 municipalities. In areas affected by the Great East Japan Earthquake, urban planning decisions have been made for tsunami disaster prevention hub urban development facilities in 24 districts. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism established a support team to assist local governments.

In national spatial policy, the National Spatial Plan calls for a national land that connects regional strengths in a new era and aims for a seamless, hub-connected national land through nationwide corridor networks and the Japan Central Corridor. The Sixth National Land Use Plan sets regional interests as a whole, land use that accounts for disaster risk, and ecosystem conservation as basic policies, and advances a “National Land Management Vision” that includes clarifying land to maintain as a priority and managing it extensively and minimally. Development of wide-area regional plans is also underway, and a draft interim report was released in October 2025.

For measures addressing aging infrastructure, following the 2013 Basic Plan for Extending the Life of Infrastructure, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism formulated its action plan in May 2014 and revised it in June 2021. It is advancing long-life plans for individual facilities, inspections, adoption of new technologies, and technical and financial support for local governments. A 2018 estimate indicated that shifting from corrective maintenance to preventive maintenance could reduce cumulative maintenance and renewal costs over the next 30 years by approximately 30 percent. In October 2025, it released “Group Management Guide Ver. 1.”

The Sixth Priority Plan for Social Infrastructure Development was formulated in an integrated manner with the Third Basic Plan on Transport Policy and set priority targets for FY2026 through FY2030. The First Mid-term Plan for Implementation of National Resilience covers FY2026 through FY2030 and defines measures and targets. Regional block plans and the “Infrastructure Future Map” show project outlines, completion schedules, and project effects.

The policy for eliminating transport gaps designated FY2025 through FY2027 as an intensive action period and involved visits to municipalities, provision of support tools, matching, and demonstration projects. In April 2025, the Regional Transport DX Promotion Project “COMmmmONS” was launched to develop and release a shared dispatch management system and related tools. By the end of FY2025, 1,644 organizations had joined the public-private partnership platform, which announced and rolled out 30 pilot projects. In March 2026, a bill to amend the Regional Public Transportation Act was submitted to the Diet.

Based on the Fourth Basic Plan on Ocean Policy and the Priority Strategy for Ocean Development, maritime policy advances stronger coast guard capabilities, passenger vessel safety, offshore wind power, zero-emission vessels, marine drones, and the development of maritime information. The Japan Coast Guard promotes the expansion of patrol ships and aircraft, new technologies, cooperation with relevant agencies, and recruitment and training; in FY2025, 4 large patrol ships, 1 medium helicopter, and 2 uncrewed aircraft entered service. The chapter also describes surveys of territorial waters and the exclusive economic zone, and operation of the Marine Information Clearinghouse and “Masil.”

Land policy has developed legal systems to address owner-unknown land and inadequately managed land, and published guidelines for appropriate management and use of vacant land in April 2025. Nationality and other information about individuals were added to post-transaction notification requirements for land transactions, effective July 2025; information on the governing law of incorporation and other details for corporations was added, effective April 2026. Cadastral surveys are being advanced under the Seventh Ten-Year National Land Survey Program for FY2020 through FY2029, with more efficient procedures and use of remote sensing.

Public-private partnerships include promoting PPP/PFI, supporting project formation, and facilitating public-private dialogue and matching. Policy evaluation covers measuring policy progress, theme-based reviews, public works projects, and research and development topics; in FY2025, it evaluated 44 policy goals, 116 performance indicators, and 3 themes. Project evaluations are conducted at adoption, reassessment, and after completion, and evaluation sheets are published. The MLIT Hotline Station receives approximately 1,900 opinions and other submissions per month on average, and a website is also available for searching the administrative disciplinary histories of businesses.