[Nadya]

Re: Street Design

Japan is designed with public transport in mind. Most everywhere in Japan is within train/bus/bike/walk distance. You don't need 4 lane high ways when there are maybe a few dozen cards on any particular stretch of the high way at any given time. I drove from Nara, Nara to Naruto, Tokushima via highway and saw maybe ten other cars on the highway. That's a distance of 174.5km; roughly a 2 and 1/2 hour drive. If I drove for 2 and 1/2 hours on any stretch of highway in California, I'd see ten cars every few minutes.

Less cars in the road, in general, means roads can be more narrow.

[zephjc]

For sure. As I understand it a lot of the build-out in Tokyo into what were more rural areas was done by the railroad lines - build a km or two, add a station and more developed land, repeat.

[vincvinc]

This. You cannot consider Tokyo as an example of (successful) urban planning without understanding the role of the railway companies.

[toast2toast]

I definitely agree!