| > 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. |