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:''This article is part of the history of rail transport by country series.'' The history of rail transport in Japan began in the late Edo period. There have been four main stages:〔Wakuda Aoki, et al., ''A History of Japanese Railways 1872–1999'' (2000)〕 # Stage 1, from 1872, the first line, from Tokyo to Yokohama, to the end of the Russo-Japanese war; # Stage 2, from nationalisation in 1906-07 to the end of World War II; # Stage 3, from the postwar creation of Japanese National Railways to 1987; # Stage 4, from privatisation to the present, with JNR split between six new railway operators for passengers and one for freight. ==Stage 1: Early Development, 1872-1906== Though rail transport had been known through Dutch traders in Dejima, Nagasaki and earlier, the impact of model railroads brought by foreigners such as Yevfimy Putyatin and Matthew Calbraith Perry was huge. The British also demonstrated a steam locomotive in Nagasaki. Saga Domain, a Japanese feudal domain (''han''), made a working model and planned to construct a line. Bodies such as the Satsuma Domain and the Tokugawa shogunate reviewed railway construction., but a line did not come to reality before the Meiji Restoration. Just prior to the fall of the Shogunate, the Tokugawa regime issued a grant to the American diplomat Anton L. C. Portman to construct a line from Yokohama to Edo (soon to be renamed Tokyo).〔Free, ''Early Japanese Railways 1853–1914: Engineering Triumphs That Transformed Meiji-era Japan,'' (Tuttle Publishing, 2008) (ISBN 4805310065)〕 In 1868 Thomas Blake Glover, a Scottish merchant, was responsible for bringing the first steam locomotive, "Iron Duke", to Japan, which he demonstrated on an 8-mile track in the Ōura district of Nagasaki. The government of Japan decided to build a railway using British financing and 300 British and European technical advisors: civil engineers, general managers, locomotive builders and drivers.〔Free, (2008)〕 On September 12, 1872, the first railway, between Shimbashi (later Shiodome) and Yokohama (present Sakuragichō) opened. (The date is in Tenpō calendar, October 14 in present Gregorian calendar). A one-way trip took 53 minutes in comparison to 40 minutes for a modern electric train. Service started with nine round trips daily.〔Naotaka Hirota ''Steam Locomotives of Japan'' (1972) Kodansha International Ltd. pp.22-25,34-38,44-46&52-54 ISBN 0-87011-185-X〕 English engineer Edmund Morel (1841-1871) supervised construction of the first railway on Honshu during the last year of his life, American engineer Joseph U. Crowford (1842-1942) supervised construction of a coal mine railway on Hokkaidō in 1880, and German engineer Herrmann Rumschottel (1844-1918) supervised railway construction on Kyushu beginning in 1887. All three trained Japanese engineers to undertake railway projects. Two men trained by Crowford later became presidents of Japan National Railways. A bronze bust of Morel in , a bronze statue of Crowford in the Temiya Railway Memorial Museum, and a bust of Rumschottel in commemorate their contributions to Japan's railways.〔 The reason of rail gauge choice remains uncertain. It could be because was supposed to be cheaper than , or because the first British agent, later whose contract was cancelled, ordered iron sleepers to this gauge. It seems likely Morel's previous experience building Cape gauge railways in similar New Zealand terrain may have been a significant influence, and Cape gauge became the ''de facto'' standard.〔 Politicians such as Inoue Masaru stated all the railway lines should be nationalized. However, the government was financially strained after the Satsuma Rebellion, making the expansion of the network terribly slow. Politicians then wanted to allow private companies to build railways. Consequently, Nippon Railway was founded as a private entity, strongly effecting the government's projects. It expanded railways fairly quickly, completing the main line between Ueno and Aomori (present Tōhoku Main Line) in 1891. With the success of Nippon Railway, private companies were also founded. Sanyō Railway, Kyūshū Railway, Hokkaidō Colliery and Railway, Kansai Railway and Nippon Railway were called the "major five private railways" at the time. At the same time, the national railway opened lines, including the current Tōkaidō Main Line in 1889, but most of its lines were subsidiary to major private lines. In 1892, the Imperial Diet promulgated the Railway Construction Act, which listed 33 railway routes that should be constructed by either the government or private entities. Railways were was introduced for both inter-city and intra-city transportation. The first horsecar line in Japan was built in Tokyo in 1882. The first tram was the , which opened in 1895. Some operators began to use EMUs rather than locomotives for inter-city transportation. Many such railway companies, modeled after interurbans in the United States, are the origins of the current private railway operators. * 1872 – Opening of Japan's first railway between Shimbashi (Tokyo) and Yokohama *1881 – Foundation of Nippon Railway, first private railway company *1882 – Opening of Horonai Railway, first railway in Hokkaidō *1888 – Opening of Iyo Railway, first railway in Shikoku *1889 – Opening of Kyūshū Railway, first railway in Kyūshū *1889 – Completion of the Tōkaidō Main Line *1892 – Promulgation of Railway Construction Act *1893 – Class 860 steam locomotive, first locomotive built in Japan * 1895 – Opening of Japan's first streetcar, in Kyoto 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「History of rail transport in Japan」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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