JITI

Welcome to our website! I am Makoto Washizu, President of Japan International Transport Institute, USA (JITI). JITI is an independent research institute which studies various kinds of US-Japan and international transportation issues. Our scope covers all modes of transportation, including air, maritime, and surface transportation, and interrelated topics such as economic aspects and environmental impacts. Recently, we have been particularly focusing on three topics: civil aviation, environment, and high-speed rail issues.

- During this long recession, shrinking demand has had serious impacts on the airline business. While each airline is struggling to survive through improvement of efficiency and reduction of its service, strengthening alliances among airlines is a recent significant movement. We would like to follow such movements and study this topic further.

- CO2 emission reduction is also a current hot issue. Since President Obama committed to a great reduction of CO2 emissions, the transportation sector has to take effective countermeasures against global warming, but it may require a significant change of policy and behavior of the people. On this issue, further study is required.

- Discussion on high-speed rail is getting more and more active since the new administration announced plans to develop a high-speed rail network throughout the nation. Fortunately, Japan has vast experience in high-speed rail since 1964; therefore, JITI can contribute to the realization of a high-speed rail network in the US.

In addition to these studies, JITI is preparing for some events in this fiscal year. In December 2009, JITI will host a seminar on CO2 emission reduction in cargo transportation and supply chain. And in January 2010, JITI will host another seminar on Japanese high-speed rail. I am looking forward to seeing you at these JITI seminars.

Finally, I would like to inform you that we opened a small public space in our office. Visitors can find reports authored by JITI, books/documents on Japanese/international transportation issues, and even travel information on Japan. We are awaiting your visit.

Makoto Washizu
President
Japan International Transport Institute, USA