JAPAN'S SERVICE SECTOR

Among the branches of intangible production, a special place is occupied by trade, the provision of financial and banking services. There is a process of softization of the economy, that is, an increase in the role of intangible resources: information, tourism and communication. The provision of business services related to production services: consulting, engineering, marketing is becoming of great importance. Japan ranked fifth in the world in exports and third in  imports of commercial services (Table 7).

Source: WTO (http://www.wto.org)

Transport in Japan. Significant shifts that have occurred in the last decade in the country’s economy, the deepening of the inter-district and international division of labor, the increase in dependence on exports and imports, the increase in the mobility of the population – all this places increased demands on Japan’s transport. The structure of  the transport system of Japan resembles the countries of Western Europe, but in terms of the volume of cargo and passenger traffic it is much superior to any of them. In Japan, all modes of transport are well developed, with the exception of inland water and pipeline.

In domestic cargo transportation, the leading role is played by the cabotage fleet, followed by road and rail transport. The main mode of transport is road (52.1% of freight and 59.4% of passenger traffic). The length of roads is 1.2 million km, of which about 5 thousand km are high-speed. The length of railways is about 30 thousand km. In terms of the volume of goods transported by railways, it is inferior to many countries of the world, but in terms of their cargo turnover – only to Russia and China. To these two countries, it is inferior in the passenger turnover of railways, at the same time in terms of the density of passenger rail traffic it ranks first in the world.

Japan’s railways have a very high technical level. All major highways are electrified. Monorail roads, roads on magnetic suspension have become widespread. Japan, along with France, occupies a leading position in the world in the development of high-speed railways, where the speed of trains is 250-300 km / h. There are 3,500 tunnels on Japan’s railways. Of the world’s 10 longest railway tunnels, 5 are in Japan.

In terms of the length of roads, Japan is second only to the USA, Brazil, India, surpassing China, Canada, Russia and other large countries of the world, and in terms of the density of roads it ranks first in the world. In terms of the size of the car park (65 million cars, including 45 million cars), it ranks second in the world after the United States.

Japan has the world’s largest and most technically advanced merchant marine fleet. By the number of ships (10 thousand), it surpasses not only any other country in the world, but also the fleets of Great Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, taken together. The tonnage of the merchant marine fleet is 57 million  br.-reg tons,  second only to the fleets of Liberia and Panama.

The configuration of Japan’s transport network is relatively simple. Along the northern and southern coasts of Honshu are the main railways that form its backbone. Shorter transverse railways cross the central mountainous part of the island, linking the coastal highways. Of particular importance to Japan is the Shinkansen (New Line) high-speed railway, which runs along the southern coast of Honshu and has about 1100 km.

Roads usually run parallel to railways, forming the so-called polymagis.

A particular challenge for Japan is the establishment of reliable land links between the four main islands. The islands are connected to each other by bridges and transport tunnels. See also

In 1942, the Kanmon underwater tunnel was opened under the narrow Shimonoseki Strait separating the islands of Honshu and Kyushu. When its capacity became insufficient, a second tunnel was built – “Shinkanmon” – with a length of almost 19 km. In addition, Honshu and Kyushu, Honshu and Shikoku are connected by road bridges. Under the Tsugaru Strait, separating the islands of Honshu and Hokkaido, in the 80s. was built the world’s longest tunnel “Seikan” 54 km, 23 km of which pass at a depth of 100 m under water. Thanks to this tunnel, the fast train now runs from Tokyo to Sapporo in not 16, but 6 hours.

An extremely important place in the transport system of Japan is occupied by its seaports, which provide both cabotage and international transportation. In total, there are more than a thousand ports in the country, 19 of them are of international importance,  including seven belong to the category of world ports, i.e. have a cargo turnover of more than 50 million tons per year.

The main port complex of Keihin is located on the coast  of Tokyo Bay and includes four major ports – Tokyo, Yokohama, Kawasaki and Chibu. The central place in this complex is occupied by Tokyo, where a large container terminal has been built and berths for general cargo are located. More than 66% of the total cargo turnover of the Port of Tokyo falls on coastal cargo, but it also participates in international transportation.

In terms of the level of development of air transport, Japan is on one of the first places in the world. The largest international airports are located in Tokyo and Osaka. In 1994, a new state-of-the-art airport near Osaka was put into operation, capable of receiving all known types of passenger and cargo aircraft. It is located on an artificial island specially created for this purpose in Osaka Bay.