A central government-mandated cap on overtime hours has come into effect for Japan’s trucking industry, leading to decreased revenue among Hokkaido transportation firms and concerns for the future on how prefectural goods, especially seafood and agricultural products, will reach consumers around the country.
Without the well-developed road infrastructure of many parts of Honshu and being forced to cover long distances across Japan’s second-largest island and largest prefecture in terms of landmass — almost 40 times the size of Tokyo and nearly equivalent to Austria — it has never been easy to be a Hokkaido trucker.
Narrow roads in many parts of the prefecture often mean slow-moving traffic, while winter blizzards can make driving on icy roads dangerous or force road closures. Both issues can mean trucks arrive later, sometimes much later, than scheduled.
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