A Short History of Transport in Japan from Ancient Times to the Present - cover image

Copyright

John Andrew Black

Published On

2022-03-18

ISBN

Paperback978-1-80064-356-7
Hardback978-1-80064-357-4
PDF978-1-80064-358-1
HTML978-1-80064-667-4
XML978-1-80064-361-1
EPUB978-1-80064-359-8
AZW3978-1-80064-360-4

Language

  • English

Print Length

322 pages (xvi + 306)

Dimensions

Paperback156 x 22 x 234 mm(6.14" x 0.87" x 9.21")
Hardback156 x 25 x 234 mm(6.14" x 0.98" x 9.21")

Weight

Paperback609g (21.48oz)
Hardback787g (27.76oz)

Media

Illustrations9
Tables29

OCLC Number

1308475715

LCCN

2021390254

BIC

  • KNG
  • WG
  • RPT
  • 1FP
  • 1FPJ

BISAC

  • BUS032000
  • HIS021000
  • TRA000000
  • TRA009000

LCC

  • HE277

Keywords

  • history
  • Japan
  • transport
  • political economy
  • New Institutional Economics
  • planning
  • maritime infrastructure
  • roads
  • rail
  • air transport
  • society
  • technology

A Short History of Transport in Japan from Ancient Times to the Present

  • John Andrew Black (author)
A Short History of Transport in Japan from Ancient Times to the Present is a unique study: the first by a Western scholar to place the long-term development of Japanese infrastructure alongside an analysis of its evolving political economy. Drawing from New Institutional Economics, Black offers an historically informed critique of contemporary planning using the example of Japan’s historical institutions, their particular biases, and the power they have exerted over national and local transport, to identify how reformed institutional arrangements might develop more sustainable and equitable transport services.

With chapters addressing each major form of transport, Black examines the predominant role of institutions and individuals – from seventeenth-century shoguns to post-war planners – in transforming Japan’s maritime infrastructure, its roads and waterways, and its adoption of rail and air transport. Using a multidisciplinary, comparative, and chronological approach, the book consults a range of technical, cultural, and political sources to tease out these interactions between society and technology.

This spirited new contribution to transport studies will attract readers interested in institutional power, the history of transport, and the development of future infrastructure, as well as those with a general interest in Japan.

Reviews

We all have much to learn from the history of other cultures and about the pathways that different societies have taken over the last two millennia. This book provides a fascinating and accessible means to obtain such an understanding of how transport has evolved in Japan.

David Banister

"Transport in Japan from Palanquin to the Chuō Maglev". Built Environment, vol. 48, no. 2, 2022.

Additional Resources

Contents

1. Introduction

(pp. 1–14)
  • John Andrew Black
  • John Andrew Black
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5. Roads

(pp. 121–154)
  • John Andrew Black

6. Railways

(pp. 155–182)
  • John Andrew Black
  • John Andrew Black

9. Conclusions

(pp. 225–284)
  • John Andrew Black

Contributors

John Andrew Black

(author)
Foundation Professor of Transport at University of New South Wales