JAPAN SUBWAY ASSOCIATION

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Greetings of the President

Thank you for visiting our society's website.

Consisting of nationwide subway operators, railway operators with mutual access to subways, and manufacturers related to subway systems, our association shares technical and informational resources among members to help enhance transportation functions in major cities as public transportation providers.
Since its inception in Tokyo in 1927, the subway system in Japan has supported urban development for 93 years and now operates from Hokkaido to Fukuoka, with a total operating length of 843 km and 17.65 million passengers per day.
Subways help alleviate urban traffic congestion by providing high-speed underground travel and on-time service, while ensuring high levels of safety and stability through advanced operating systems. As an environmentally friendly form of public transportation with low carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, subways are designed to be universally accessible to everyone, including the elderly and foreigners.
Recently in the subway business, the number of passengers, which had been growing yearly thanks to increasing numbers of foreign visitors to Japan due to the government's tourism policy, has declined significantly due to the proliferation of telework and a sharp drop in the number of foreign visitors to Japan due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In addition, management efforts will be required in the medium to long term to address challenges such as declining birth rates, an aging population, changes in work styles and lifestyles in the post-COVID era, and fluctuating usage patterns.
Our association is committed to further promoting disease prevention, safety measures, disaster preparedness, and accessibility improvements in subways, a vital part of transportation infrastructure, and to providing various information on both tangible and intangible aspects, such as awareness campaigns to help improve manners.
We will continue to promote the appeal of subways and strive as a unified organization to ensure their safe, secure, and comfortable use, and we kindly ask for your continued support and guidance.

I hope this homepage has allowed you to improve your understanding of subways, if only by a small margin.

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