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国土交通省
Kokudokōtsūshō
Agency overview
Jurisdiction Japan
Headquarters 2-1-3 Kasumigaseki, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 100-
8918 Japan
Website http://www.mlit.go.jp
Contents
[hide]
1Background
2Investigations
o 2.1Highway tour bus companies
3Organization
o 3.1External agencies
4Notes
5External links
Background[edit]
MLIT was established as part of the administrative reforms of January 6, 2001, which merged the
Ministry of Transport (運輸省 Un'yu-shō), the Ministry of Construction (建設省 Kensetsu-shō), the
Hokkaido Development Agency (北海道開発庁 Hokkaidō-kaihatsu-chō), and the National Land
Agency (国土庁 Kokudo-chō). Before the ministry renamed itself on January 8, 2008, the ministry's
English name was "Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport".[2]
Investigations[edit]
Highway tour bus companies[edit]
After a fatal bus accident on April 29, 2012 where a bus bound for Tokyo Disneyland crashed into a
wall on the Kanetsu Expressway in Gunma Prefecture killing seven and injuring 39 others,[3] the
ministry launched an investigation into highway bus companies. From May to June 2012 it carried
out inspections and found that 250 of 298 companies (over 80%) violated the Road Transportation
Law, with 48 companies breaching it seriously and one even lending its name to another company.
Twenty-two companies broke the law by hiring drivers on a daily basis. Among them, 15 companies
hired more than one driver this way, which the ministry considered a "serious violation." The largest
number of drivers hired by a company in this fashion was eight.
192 companies were found to have broken the law by ignoring the maximum nine hours of work a
day for drivers. It also found 118 companies did not give proper instructions and supervision to
drivers, including the provision of safety education. Forty-eight companies did not perform roll call
before their drivers started work, which should include an alcohol breath test. The ministry
considered some of these violations as serious depending on their frequency and extent. "We would
like to provide thorough instructions to the bus companies about their safety management," an
official of the ministry's Road Transport Bureau said. The ministry was considering whether to punish
the violators and publish the inspection results of bus companies that are organizing tours this
summer on its website.[4]
New safety measures, due to come into effect as early as July 2012 prohibited travel agencies from
brokering bus tours to third parties. In the April 29 crash, two companies acted as brokers between
the tour organizer and the bus operator.[5]
Organization[edit]
MLIT is organized into the following bureaus:[1][6]