Tokyo is a very convenient city where transportation infrastructure is very well established and organized (although very complicated even for me!). The public transportation system, particularly trains, is punctually operated and usually takes people as scheduled.
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| Train Route Map in Tokyo and its Suburbs (Easy to follow, hah) |
On the other hand, most roads in Tokyo are usually very clouded and frustrate car drivers. Such a busy traffic causes delay. Also, exhaust fumes are environmentally unfriendly.
Maintenance costs for owning car in Tokyo, including parking, regular inspection, insurance, fuel, etc., are crazily high. My very rough estimation for these costs of more than 20 years ago was at least US$500 a month, and I think the current situation is worse.
So, taking all the above into consideration, I do not think owning car in Tokyo is a decent idea. Regardless, many people own cars in Tokyo, which makes me guess why and assume the following.
I think many people regard their cars like their private rooms. As I mentioned in my last blog (Private Room), the Tokyo's living condition is generally poor and each family member does not necessarily have enough private space there. Thus, I guess some people are trying to expand their living area into their cars to keep their own space.
Several things to support the above my thought as below.
Some drivers, particularly among young generation, decorate car interior.
Oops, the above might be an extreme case. However, the above picture shows what I am saying below.
Believe or not, some car drivers put their shoes off when getting on their cars, and annoyingly, they ask a front-seat passenger to do the same!!! (Of course, a pair of slippers are provided as in the above picture, don't worry!) Well, I have to confess that I was one of such annoying car owners when I owned a car many years ago...
No question that many car owners clean their cars weekends as one of their weekends routines. To make sure, the cleaning tasks include not only washing (by hands, not a washing machine, being afraid of having scratches), but waxing as well.
I used to live in the U.S. (Boston, Iowa, Denver, NY, Chicago) for more than ten years and never saw any of the above. I assume in the U.S., particularly in cities where cars are absolutely necessary for their livings, cars are just transportation means and are not more than that. I think American people's this sort of mindset on cars is more natural, and Japanese' is some extreme, although this Japanese' gentle treatment of their cars result in good quality of used cars and should be appreciated.
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