Tomei Expressway

Japan's 346.7-kilometre expressway linking Tokyo with Nagoya, fully opened on 26 May 1969. Connecting at Komaki with the Meishin Expressway, it extended the high-speed corridor to Kobe and transformed freight logistics, industry and leisure travel along Japan's Pacific coast.

The Opening That Reshaped the Pacific Coast

The Tomei Expressway — formally the Tokai Expressway (東海自動車道), Route E1 — runs 346.7 kilometres from the Tokyo Interchange in Setagaya, Tokyo to the Komaki Interchange in Nagoya, Aichi. Construction began in 1962. The first sections opened in 1968, and the full line opened on 26 May 1969 when the final stretch between Oi-Matsuda IC in Kanagawa and Gotemba IC in Shizuoka was completed.

Before the expressway opened, driving from Tokyo to Nagoya on National Route 1 took roughly nine and a half hours. The Tomei cut that to under five. The freed-up travel time was not merely a convenience — it remapped Japan’s economic geography. Factories and distribution hubs multiplied along the corridor; cities such as Atsugi, Numazu, Shizuoka, Hamamatsu and Toyohashi accelerated their growth as industrial bases in direct response to the new access.

Joining the Meishin: the Pacific Belt Completed

When the Tomei reached Komaki IC, it met the Meishin Expressway (E1 Meishin), which had opened in 1963 as Japan’s first intercity expressway and already ran west to Kobe and Nishinomiya. End to end, the combined Tomei-Meishin corridor stretched 536 kilometres from Tokyo to Nishinomiya — a high-speed spine through the Pacific industrial belt that tied Japan’s three largest metropolitan regions together for the first time.

Tourism transformed as well. The improved access to Hakone, Fujisan, the Izu Peninsula and Lake Hamana made the Tomei a gateway for leisure driving, popularising the road trip as a mass recreation across Japan. On a clear day, Fujisan rises over the expressway through much of the Shizuoka stretch — a view that has become inseparable from the experience of driving the Tomei.

Summary

Fully opened in May 1969, the Tomei Expressway (E1, 346.7 km) completed a high-speed link from Tokyo to Nagoya and, via the Meishin, all the way to Kobe — transforming freight logistics, manufacturing geography and leisure travel along Japan’s Pacific coast. Today the expressway connects with the Ken-O Expressway (C4) and the Tokyo Bay Aqua-Line, weaving into the broader metropolitan network. More than five decades after opening, the Tomei remains one of Japan’s busiest motorways — still carrying the traffic of the Pacific corridor it helped create.

For accommodation along the Tomei route, Rakuten Travel is a convenient option.