Fukuoka, Kobe, Kyoto, Nagoya, Osaka, Sapporo, Sendai, Tokyo and Yokohama have subway systems.

However, unlike Europe, the vast majority of passenger traffic is on suburban commuter trains that criss-cross metropolitan areas.

[10] Railways are the most important means of passenger transportation in Japan, maintaining this status since the late nineteenth century.

Government policy promoted railways as an efficient transportation system for a country that lacks fossil fuels and is nearly completely dependent on imports.

Despite this efficiency, growing affluence and associated car ownership led to road transportation usage increasing to the detriment of rail from the 1960s.

Private automobiles in Greater Tokyo account for less than 20% of daily trips as car ownership is restricted to those with a dedicated parking space.

In post-war Japan, the Japanese government encouraged private corporations to develop their own mass transit systems in order to quickly rebuild the country's urban transport networks.

By allowing private corporations to control transit oriented developments as well as railway lines, planned communities were facilitated allowing private railway operators to establish a vertically integrated business of developing residential, business, industrial and retail land and the commuting methods used by the populace to travel between such areas.

Every public rail transportation system under government regulation in Japan is classified either as railway or tramway.

In principle, tramways can have sections shared with road traffic while railways cannot, but the choice may seem rather arbitrary in certain cases.

The rail system of Japan consists of the following (as of 2009):[19] The national railway network was started and has been expanded with the narrow 1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in) gauge.

Railways with broader gauge are limited to those built not intending to provide through freight and passenger transport with the existing national network.

], a 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) standard gauge freight railway network (partially electrified with 25 kV AC) is proposed for Hokkaido, Honshu and the northernmost Kyushu (Kanmon strait - Hakata).

This is due to legislation restricting emergency stopping distances of trains to 600 m (2,000 ft) on a railway with grade crossings.

Nevertheless, advances in pantograph technology have largely eliminated the need for separate rolling stock in these areas.

Long-distance travellers (usually longer than 101 km) are allowed unlimited number of stopovers (途中下車, tochū-gesha) along the route subject to the duration of the validity of the fare ticket.

A recent development in the fare collection system is the stored-value card systems shared by multiple operators in large cities, such as Suica, Pasmo and PiTaPa, by which passengers can avoid consultation with complicated fare tables and lineups for ticket machines before each train ride.

Suburban or intercity railway lines usually set several types of trains (列車種別, ressha shubetsu) with different stop patterns.

The railway business was evaluated line-by-line in order to identify significantly unprofitable lines for closure.

Outlying and suburban areas are served by seven private railway companies, whose lines intersect at major stations with the subway system.

Cities with such intermediate capacity transit systems include Hiroshima, Kobe, Osaka, Saitama and Tokyo.

Some cities operate streetcar systems, including Hiroshima, Matsuyama, Nagasaki, Tokyo (one line only) and Toyohashi.

Japanese passengers rely heavily on rail transit and take it for granted that trains operate on time.

One of the most widely publicized crimes committed on trains is chikan or groping, taking advantage of overcrowded cars and a reluctance for people to ask for help, or to jump to the aid of another.

A recent trend for railway companies to promote their lines is to service female-only cars on some trains (typically during morning rush-hours and late night trains, and often the front or back car) and is quickly becoming a standard practice, especially among Tokyo's busy commuter lines.

The deceased's family may be charged damages on the order of approximately 1 million yen by railway operating companies.

This includes use of blue LED lights in stations, which officials hope will calm potential jumpers.

[26] Many stations (eki) around the country soon began to make special bento featuring local specialties such as seafood, meat or vegetables.

The Central Committee of the Japanese Association of Railroad Station Concessionaires (社団法人日本鉄道構内営業中央会) is a prominent trade organization promoting ekiben.

A major television series based on rail transport, Ressha Sentai ToQger, was broadcast on TV Asahi from 2014 to 2015.