Nankai Electric Railway Co., Ltd. (南海電気鉄道株式会社, Nankai denki tetsudō kabushiki gaisha) is a private railway in Japan, founded in 1884. The name Nankai (which means "South Sea") comes from the company's routes along the Nankaidō, the old highway that ran south from the old capital, Kyoto, along the sea coast. Nankai predates all the electric railways in the Tokyo region.