> I really doubt many people in Japan commute by car.
Having lived in Japan and commuted by car in Japan, I can say that this is definitely not true.
In the inner parts of the larger cities, yes, very true. But in the periphery of larger cities and in every provincial city (which are most of them), there is a lot of car commuting.
For reference, I would say larger cities are Tokyo, Osaka, and Yokohama. Nagoya is probably around the threshold (not so sure, didn’t spend much time there).
Provincial cities like Fukuoka, Hiroshima, Sendai, and Sapporo are very much car-centric, although the public transportation system is quite robust. Most of the public transport in these cities is to and from the inner city and for short jaunts between neighborhoods by folks who don’t drive. For jobs outside of the center city, driving a car would be quite common.
The outskirts of Tokyo, etc. are similar to these provincial cities.
Smaller cities like Nagasaki or Shizuoka are even more car-centric.
Have you been to Japan? It often seems like people who have never been only have this ideal in their minds that everyone in Japan travels by bullet train or local commuter trains.
There are many bus routes, and many people who still own and drive their own cars even in larger cities like Tokyo or Osaka.
Shinkansens run on electricity. Oil is mostly in the manufacturing and plastics industry, unlike other countries where domestic consumption is a significant share. (Tokyo power sector is mostly thermal and nuclear.)
EDIT: these numbers appear to be old, since 2019 they’ve tuned reactors back on and stopped relying on LNG as much. I can’t find good numbers on recent data but in 2019 they imported more gas than any other country.
Fossil-fueled thermal power generation accounted for 71.7% of total electricity generated during the year [2021], down from 74.9% the previous year [2020]. Coal and LNG accounted for 26.5% and 31.7%, respectively, and both fossil fuels are on a declining trend. Nuclear power accounted for 5.9%, up from 4.3% the previous year.
I wonder why geothermal isn't big there. I'd naively assume that they could get a significant portion to their electricity from geothermal. Does anyone know what's preventing Japan from doing that?
Without knowing how good a geothermal resource they have, I imagine it is similar to what prevents it from being popular where I live where there is a fantastic geothermal resource: Economics, know how, FUD
Having lived in Japan and commuted by car in Japan, I can say that this is definitely not true.
In the inner parts of the larger cities, yes, very true. But in the periphery of larger cities and in every provincial city (which are most of them), there is a lot of car commuting.
For reference, I would say larger cities are Tokyo, Osaka, and Yokohama. Nagoya is probably around the threshold (not so sure, didn’t spend much time there).
Provincial cities like Fukuoka, Hiroshima, Sendai, and Sapporo are very much car-centric, although the public transportation system is quite robust. Most of the public transport in these cities is to and from the inner city and for short jaunts between neighborhoods by folks who don’t drive. For jobs outside of the center city, driving a car would be quite common.
The outskirts of Tokyo, etc. are similar to these provincial cities.
Smaller cities like Nagasaki or Shizuoka are even more car-centric.