Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Kokudo-kōtsū-shō), abbreviated MLIT, is a ministry of the Japanese government. It is responsible for one-third of all the laws and orders in Japan and the largest Japanese ministry in terms of employees, as well as the second-largest organ of the Japanese government after the Ministry of Defense. The ministry has four external organs including the Japan Coast Guard and the Japan Tourism Agency.BackgroundMLIT was established as part of the administrative reforms of January 6, 2001, which merged the Ministry of Transport Un'yu-shō), the Ministry of Construction Kensetsu-shō), the Hokkaido Development Agency Hokkaidō-kaihatsu-chō), and the National Land Agency Kokudo-chō). Before the ministry renamed itself on January 8, 2008, the ministry's English name was "Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport".InvestigationsHighway tour bus companiesAfter an 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, 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.