Seven Japan Railways Group companies, once state-owned until 1987, cover most parts of Japan.

* May 11 – Japanese National Railways ' ferry Shiun Maru sinks after collision with sister ship Uko Maru in thick fog off Takamatsu, Shikoku, in the Seto Inland Sea of Japan ; 166 passengers ( many children ) and two crew are killed.

The, also known as the " Bullet Train ", is a network of high-speed railway lines in Japan operated by four Japan Railways Group companies.

However, Shinji Sogo, President of Japan National Railways, insisted strongly on the possibility of high-speed rail, and the Shinkansen project was implemented.

Japan has six main regional passenger railway companies, known collectively as Japan Railways Group or simply as JR. Four JR companies operate the " bullet trains " on very fast and frequent Shinkansen lines that link all the larger cities, including Tokyo, Yokohama, Nagoya, Kyoto, Osaka, Hiroshima, Fukuoka and many more.

* JNR 381 series ( Japan ), introduced in 1973 by the former Japan National Railways.

Another major milestone in the development of the tourism industry in Japan was the 1907 passage of the Hotel Development Law, as a result of which the Railways Ministry began to construct publicly-owned hotels all throughout Japan.

In domestic policy, Nakasone's most notable policy was his privatization initiative, which led to the breakup of Japan National Railways into the modern Japan Railways Group.

Although Japan Railways Group companies are private entities, they are not considered private railways because of their unique status as the successors of the Japanese National Railways ( JNR ).

, also referred to as, is one of the Japan Railways Group ( JR Group ) companies and operates in western Honshū.

* Japan Railways Group or its member companies

The is the busiest trunk line of the Japan Railways Group ( JR Group ), connecting and Kōbe stations.

* 1987: Japanese National Railways is privatized and split into seven JR ( Japan Railways ) companies, six regional companies and one freight.

Morita was vice chairman of the Keidanren ( Japan Federation of Economic Organizations ), and was a member of the Japan-U. S. Economic Relations Group, also known as the " Wise Men's Group ".

The international Capcom Group currently encompasses 15 subsidiaries in Japan, North America, Europe, and East Asia.

Japan is a member of Group of Eight.

The keiretsu model has not appeared outside Japan, but many non-Japanese businesses are described as keiretsu, such as the Virgin Group ( UK ) and Tata Group ( India ).

He long sought to establish an East Asian Economic Group as an alternative to APEC, excluding Australia, New Zealand and the Americas, and during his premiership Malaysia signed up to an ASEAN Free Trade Area ( AFTA ) and ASEAN + 3, a regional forum with China, Japan and South Korea.

In cooperation with the International Red Panda Management Group, they coordinate the Species Survival Plan in North America, the European Endangered Species Programme in Europe and other captive-breeding programs in Australia, India, Japan and China.

Sports car racing has intermittently been popular in Japan – in the 1960s small-capacity sports racers and even a local version of the Group 7 cars as raced in Can-Am were popular ; a healthy local sports prototype championship ran until the early 1990s and now the Super GT series provides high-budget exposure to manufacturers, with many international drivers appearing.

Since the demise of Group C ( where Japan and Germany both had successful series of their own ) Japan has largely gone its own way in sports car racing ; the Super GT series is for very highly modified production-based cars ; although prototypes are slowly returning to Japanese racing in the Japan Le Mans Challenge many of these ' prototypes ' are little more than rebodied Formula 3 cars ( although there has been a long Japanese tradition of such hybrids ; a Grand Champion series ran for many years with rebodied Formula 2 and Formula 3000 cars, rather similar to the second incarnation of Can-Am ).

Shōnen-ai originally connoted ephebophilia or pederasty in Japan, but from the early 1970s to the late 1980s, was used to describe a new genre of shōjo manga, primarily by the Year 24 Group, about beautiful boys in love.

In 1975, he invited the heads of government from West Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States to a summit in Rambouillet, to form the Group of Six ( now the G8, including Canada and Russia ) major economic powers.

In addition to the JR Group, Japan has several major regional carriers such as the Kintetsu and Nagoya Railroads.

The name HMV is used by a chain of music shops owned by HMV Group plc, mainly in the UK, Ireland, Canada, Singapore, Australia, Hong Kong, and Japan.

of France, part of the Nikko Group of Japan.

* Group Sounds ( Japan )

Conversely, the HMV store chain exists in Japan ( though no longer owned by HMV Group ), but it cannot use the His Master's Voice motto or logo ; its logo is a stylized image of a gramophone only.

* 2001 – At the conclusion of a fireworks display on Okura Beach in Akashi, Hyōgo, Japan, 11 people are killed and more than 120 are injured when a pedestrian footbridge connecting the beach to JR Asagiri railway station becomes overcrowded and people leaving the event fall down in a domino effect.

* Rokujō Station, a train station on the JR West Etsumi-Hoku Line in Fukui, Fukui, Japan

* In Japan, JR Central will start operating the Chūō Shinkansen between Shinagawa Station ( Tokyo ) and Nagoya Station ( Nagoya ) by Maglev system ( JR – Maglev ).

* East Japan Railway Company ( JR East )-Tōhoku Shinkansen ( opened December 4, 2010 )

North-west of Kamakura lies Yamanouchi, commonly called Kita-Kamakura because of the presence of East Japan Railway Company's ( JR ) Kita-Kamakura Station.

* JR Shikoku 2000 series ( Japan, 1989 ), the first tilting DMU in the world.

* JR Hokkaido KiHa 281 series ( Japan, 1992 ), branded Heat 281 or Furico 281.

* JR Shikoku 8000 series ( Japan, 1992 ).

* JR East E351 series ( Japan, 1993 ), used for Super Azusa.

* JR Central 383 series ( Japan, 1994 ), used for Wide View Shinano.

* JR Kyushu 883 series ( Japan, 1994 ), used for Sonic.

* JR Hokkaido KiHa 283 series ( Japan, 1995 ), branded Furico 283.

* JR West 283 series ( Japan, 1996 ), used for Ocean Arrow.

* JR Kyushu 885 series ( Japan, 1999 ), used for Kamome and Sonic.

* JR West KiHa 187 series ( Japan, 2001 ), used for Super Inaba, Super Kunibiki, and Super Oki.

* JR Hokkaido KiHa 201 series ( Japan, 1996 ), used for local / rapid trains around Sapporo.

* JR Hokkaido KiHa 261 series ( Japan, 1999 ), branded Tilt 261.

* N700 Series Shinkansen ( except N700-7000 / 8000 series ) ( Japan, 2007 ), introduced by JR Central and JR West, used for Tōkaidō and Sanyō Shinkansen lines.