Why no subway after midnight in Japan?

Hey, anyone who knows the true reason to why most subways stops around midnight in Japan?

I have been searching the Internet but there is no answers out there.

All the best,

Martin

Martin,

It is to allow sufficient time for maintenance work to be carried out.

It is not just "one true reason" but various reasons. Another major reason is the fact that operation during the night would be unprofitable due to low usage and high labor costs.

....that many in authority believe everybody should be safely home by midnight - or who knows what mayhem could take over the land in the wee hours!

I don't really think that it's not that the subway doesn't run after midnight, but it's that convenience stores are open after midnight.

Only a couple of decades ago, the city was expected to sleep after midnight. I think this was universal to a certain extent.

The few people who worked on night shifts would stay in rooms provided by their employer. By midnight, TV was over, FM stations were over. In Tokyo, there was a AM radio program for students studying to go to college, but in other cities, about the only media playing was AM radio shows designed for truck drivers who needed to run during the night when the roads were empty. Of course, there was no internet.

It was after that that Seven Eleven stores started to open after Eleven. Internet and cable TV came way after that. Although in New Years Eve the subways run all night to trasport people who go to worship or parties, usually late hour operation is not necessary and shouldn't be, if you ask me. There's always midnight buses, though.

A Japanese tour guide once said that the vast network of trains requires daily overnight maintenance due to the high volume of commuters and the ageing system. Also, it would be unthinkable if the trains break down during the day.

Secondly, its to reduce the noise pollution at night some trains particularly those belonging to JR run above ground. Hence trains don't run after midnight.