Road transport in Japan

Highway system of Japan
Highway markers for the Tōhoku Expressway, the Shibuya Route, National Route 4, and Aomori Prefecture Route 120
System information
Maintained by Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, East Nippon Expressway Company, Central Nippon Expressway Company, West Nippon Expressway Company, and prefectures
Formed	Road Act was signed in 1919,[1] other systems have continuously been in place since at least the 3rd century[2]
Highway names
Expressways	x Expressway (CA)/(Cn)/(En)/(EnA)
Urban expressways	system name x Route (n)/(Cn)/(Kn)/(Sn)
National highways	National Route n
Prefectural roads	x Prefecture Route n
System links
National highways of Japan Expressways of Japan

Road transport is an essential element of the Japanese transport network, and vital part of the Japanese economy. Japan's history of having human-made roads ranging from the present to the Jōmon period. The Gokishichidō of the Asuka period and the Edo period kaidō both figured into the government's attempts to centralize their authority. As of April 2012, Japan had a road network of approximately 1,215,000 kilometers (755,000 mi) of roads made up of 1,022,000 kilometers (635,000 mi) of city, town and village roads, 129,000 kilometers (80,000 mi) of prefectural roads, 55,000 kilometers (34,000 mi) of national highways, and 8,050 kilometers (5,000 mi) of expressways.