This study was conducted to investigate the physiological characteristics and to isolate plasmid DNA of R. japonicum strains. The results obtained were as follows; Strains S117, S118, 005, 011 and DY-1 were slow-growers and showed alkaline reaction, whereas strains S110, S111, S114, S116, S120 and 010 were fast-growers and produced acid reaction in YEM broth. All the fast- and slow-growing R. japonicum showed gram negative and formed mucous white colony on agar plate. After 7 days, the colonies of the fast-growers were between 2.0 and 4.0mm in diameter, whereas those of slow-growers were approximately between 0.5 and 1.5mm. The fast-growers were uniformly sensitive to the pH of 4.5 and tolerant of the pH of 9.5, whereas the reverse was found for the slow-growers. All the fast-growers were able to grow in the presence of 2% NaCl however the slow-growers were not grown. All the microorganisms grew rapidly in simple mineral salt medium containing as the sole source of carbon. Starch was rarely utilized. All the fast-growers utilized sucrose. The slow-growing R. japonicum strains examined usually contained 1 to 3 plasmid DNA ranging between 15Kb and 250 Kb, whereas the fast-growing R. japonicum strains contained 1 to 3 plasmid DNA ranging from 20 Kb to 250Kb.