I was wondering what everybody was thinking about mobility in Japan. Personally I always knew Japan as the paradise for public transportation, and while it’s true, since living here I realized how car centric a lot of places are compared to Europe. The lack of sidewalk, the absence of bike lanes or bike lanes with very insufficient protections and markings were surprising.
FYI : My main point of reference is Tokyo’s suburb, Takatsu.
https://www.reddit.com/r/japan/comments/17oz8uy/mobility_without_a_car_in_japan/
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As you said, depends where you live. I live in Tokyo proper and would never own a car here. Motorcycle, on the other hand…
There are electric scooter rental systems like LUUP, as well as bike rental systems. Lots of places with car parking also have bike parking. Most highways don’t have bike lanes like you mentioned, but as far as I know, there are usually bike lanes in the suburbs. FYR, I live in Kanagawa and work in Tokyo
It is not so much that the mentality is car centric it is that there isn’t the space to have a sidewalk, bike lane, and vehicle lanes.
What is relevant though is that cars are the most liable in terms of traffic and are supposed to give way to pedestrians and cyclists.
I can’t speak for Takatsu but the places I lived in Tokyo were very easy to live without a car.
Coming to Japan, I considered the streets quite dangerous, not having proper sidewalks or pedestrian zones, and it turns out those things can make streets more dangerous. Japan’s narrow streets keep cars from high speed driving in residential areas, as they recklessly and illegally often do in Western areas, particularly the suburbs. It’s anti-intuitive at first, but apparently that’s how it is.
I heard it on 99% Invisible, the best podcast about design
https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/first-errand/
In fact, it was “pedestrian-centered.”
Most of the old residential streets have existed since before motorization. That is why they are narrow. In addition, road widening would be very expensive and would require the consent and eviction of residents along the road.
The city pool, baseball stadium, soccer field, and super homecenter are located past the train tracks over a bridge, with one side of the bridge having 2 lanes dedicated to one direction of traffic while the other side one lane. Pedestrian passage is accessed via 10 meters high stairs. Nah they couldn’t have made each side of the bridge 1 lane and included bicycle lanes. Unthinkable. So I have to use a detour which is a dark, scary underpass with no pedestrian/bicycle strip. During the winter with 2 meters of snow, the danger is multiplied.
The only bus is one which only goes to the pool a few times a day directly from the regional large train station located to the west.
Weird since Kanazawa is usually pretty good at city planning.
Travelling in cities or between cities is fine. Anywhere else, need a car.
If you live in the metropolitan areas where public transportation is good you probably don’t need a car. If you live outside of the metropolitan areas, like we do, getting around without a car is more difficult.
A lot of foreign-raised drivers had to learn about patience after moving to Japan. Learn a *lot*.