Telework and telecommuting in Japan: Sustainability and macroeconomic perspectives

Telecommuting is a concept relating to work that utilizes information and communications technology. It is common in the United States. As a term, telecommuting is better defined than telework. Telework and telecommuting (T/T) offers many advantages to workers, companies, and society. T/T has various direct effects on workers and companies. Once T/T becomes popular, clear social benefits can be realized, such as the relief of pressure on existing environment. This is a case where sustainability is attained through virtual commuting using IT. In Japan, Mitomo and Jitsuzumi used Nilles’ method to project the future number of telecommuters in Japan. They forecast the telecommuter population in Japan over the period from 1995 to 2020, based on the growth curve represented by logistic functions. In Japan, Hitoshi Mitomo and T. Jitsuzumi estimated the decrease in railway passenger traffic due to T/T and quantified both the direct impact on telecommuters and the indirect impact on non-telecommuters who still commuted during peak hours.