Expressways

Expressways

basic information

Japan's four main island and Okinawa are covered by a expressway network of over 7,000 kilometers. Further routes are still under construction. Below is a map showing most operational highways.

Foreign visitors should encounter few problems using Japanese expressways, since all important signs are written in both, Japanese and English. The speed limit for passenger cars is usually 80 or 100 km/h.

The use of highways is subject to tolls. The table below shows approximate costs for a regular vehicle between selected major cities. Lower rates apply to light vehicles and motorcycles, while higher rates apply to trucks, buses and trailers.

Approximate Tolls (in yen):

	Kagoshima	Fukuoka	Hiroshima	Osaka	Kyoto	Nagoya	Aomori
Tokyo	27,500	23,000	17,000	12,000	10,500	8,000	14,000
Aomori	39,000	34,000	28,500	23,000	22,000	20,500
Nagoya	21,000	16,000	10,500	3,500	3,500
Kyoto	18,500	13,500	8,000	2,000
Osaka	18,000	13,000	7,500
Hiroshima	11,500	6,500
Fukuoka	6,000

Approximate Travel Distance:

	Kagoshima	Fukuoka	Hiroshima	Osaka	Kyoto	Nagoya	Aomori
Tokyo	1400km	1100km	850km	550km	500km	350km	700km
Aomori	2050km	1800km	1500km	1200km	1150km	1050km
Nagoya	1050km	800km	500km	200km	150km
Kyoto	900km	650km	350km	50km
Osaka	1000km	700km	450km
Hiroshima	550km	300km
Fukuoka	300km

Four public corporations were formerly in charge of expressway construction and maintainance. However, in October 2005, the public corporations were restructured into the following six private companies:

• East Nippon Expressway (Hokkaido, Tohoku, Kanto)
• Central Nippon Expressway (Kanto, Chubu)
• West Nippon Expressway (Kansai, Chugoku, Shikoku, Kyushu)
• Metropolitan Expressway (metropolitan Tokyo)
• Hanshin Expressway (Osaka and Kobe)
• Honshu-Shikoku Bridge Expressway (between Shikoku and Honshu)