The vast majority of Japanese railways are classified under two Japanese laws, one for railways (鉄道, tetsudō) and another for trams (軌道, kidō).
There are also other railways not legally classified as either tetsudō or kidō, such as airport people movers, slope cars (automated small rack monorails), or amusement park rides.
According to the laws, tetsudō/kidō include conventional railways (over ground or underground, including subways), as well as maglev trains, monorails, new transit systems (a blanket term roughly equivalent to people mover or automated guideway transit in other countries), skyrails (automated small cable monorails), trams, trolleybuses, guideway buses, funiculars (called "cable cars" in Japan), and aerial lifts.
Tetsudō/kidō also include (non-funicular) cable cars, horsecars, and handcars, but those modes of transportation have already disappeared from the country.
To make the search easier, official nicknames and unofficial common names are also listed.