While Wednesday marked the 20th anniversary of the privatization of four Japanese public expressway corporations, the realization of free expressways in the country is still 90 years away.
The privatization was a key policy of then-Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi. In October 2005, the public corporations were reorganized into six private companies and the Japan Expressway Holding and Debt Repayment Agency, an independent administrative body.
The six are East Nippon Expressway, Central Nippon Expressway, West Nippon Expressway, Metropolitan Expressway, Hanshin Expressway and Honshu-Shikoku Bridge Expressway.
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