[Nyororin]

In my view, Japan is a one car per family society. The US a one car per person society. This is a generalization, of course, but it seems to fit quite well.

The costs of owning a car (taxes, parking, gasoline) in Japan outweigh it`s value for an individual in most cases. This is particularly true in the inner city, where the costs can outweigh it`s usefulness even if it IS a family.

I live right on the outskirts of a huge city. In our building there is only one family out of around 40 who own 2 cars. And at the same time I think there are maybe two families who don`t own a car at all. People who use cars for their job use a company vehicle, not their own. Even out in the deep countryside - where it`s an hour walk to a bus stop for a bus that comes every 4 hours... You still only see around 1.5 cars per family. Every other family seems to have 2 cars, but nothing more than that unless you own a company and have another for work.

Back when I lived in the US, everyone in the house of legal driving age who had a license had their own car. It was the same for pretty much everyone around. 4 cars in the driveway and maybe more in the garage seemed a pretty normal sight.