"Like many Japanese of his generation, the 28-year-old musician and part-time maintenance worker says owning a car is more trouble than it's worth, especially in a congested city where monthly parking runs as much as 30,000 yen ($330), and gas costs 100 yen a liter (about $3.50 a gallon). "
Original article is here.
http://www.oregonlive.com/business/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/business/123121951587500.xml&coll=7
Especially in high population density cities, such as Tokyo, railway transportation is more useful than owned car.
http://blog.greggman.com/blog/tokyo_trains/
An interesting fact in the US is that younger people are delaying their application and test for a driver's license. Does this mean that A) they have found other mobility alternatives, such as transit, biking, walking? B) they have found other ways to connect with people and activities, e.g., social media? C) the car is more trouble and expensive than it is worth? or D) someone else is providing chauffeur service?
ReplyDeleteI did not know that younger people in the US are delaying their application and test for a driver's licence. But same thing happen in Japan. One reason is that now the driver's licence appricants have to pay more than $3000 for the organization. The other is that the age of becoming independent from their parents would be higher than 20 years ago because our society and skills we have to master before independent are more complicated, and young ages can get help from parents as chauffeur.
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