With new highway construction suspended and the prime minister pledging to abolish public corporations, the business of the Japan Highway Public Corp. at the moment is anything but business-as-usual. As both the overlord of the nation's vehicle-choked intercity expressways and the troll who collects the system's exorbitant tolls, the JHPC can probably assume that not many citizens are going to take its side in its battle to maintain the status quo.

In such an environment, the new Electronic Toll Collection system, which was expanded to 616 locations nationwide on Nov. 30, could be seen as a timely public relations tool. The automatic system has been in place at 175 toll plazas since last March, and even before then it was operating on a limited test basis. But Nov. 30 was, for all intents and purposes, the inaugural day, since that's when companies who make the on-board devices started running ads in the national papers.

This device, which sits on the dashboard of your car, communicates with the special unmanned tollgates at the entrances and exits of expressways. ETC users do not need to hand cash or tickets to human toll collectors. Instead, the vehicle's information is recorded by the system and later, tolls are charged to the driver's credit card.