Tokyo has four times more population than Madrid and traffic jams are non -existent. The secret is called Shako Shomeishho

Spain has an extension of 506,030 square kilometers And they live 48.35 million people. Japan has an area of 377,974 square kilometers where 124.5 million people live. In the city of Madrid it is calculated that they live 3.23 million peoplewhile in Tokyo a total of 14.22 million people.

The difference is even more striking if we take into account population density. In Madrid they live 5,265.91 hab./km², while Tokyo rises to 6. 501.58 hab./km². Which of the two cities is hell to drive?

If you throw one eye to photographs of Japanese citiesyou will have realized that there are a lot, many people walking and in public transport. But how many cars do you see on the street? The answer is simple: very few.

If we attend to the 2020 dataSpain had in use 29,875,896 million cars, while in Japan 76,702,773 cars were counted. How can it be that a country with a much lower surface and that walks to triple our population Don’t be a car hell If you have a car density per person very similar to ours (629 cars/1,000 inhabitants for Spain for the 609 cars/1000 inhabitants for Japan)?

They have achieved, of course, limiting to the force the number of cars that can be possessed in the big cities where, by logic, a greater number of cars should accumulate. As?

The secret is Shako Shomeishho

Although the density of car per inhabitant is very similar to the Spanish, the truth is that it collapses if we focus on large cities. In Japan it is estimated that each home has 1.06 cars of the total. That figure collapses to the 0.32 vehicles per household In Tokyo. The great Japanese city is, in fact, the rich city where the car is used. According to Deloitteonly 12% of the daily journeys in Tokyo are carried out by car, while 17% are bicycle.

Figures that are not understood without two express prohibitions: that of parking on the street and buying a car … without space to park it. And a little luck.

Andre Sorensen, professor of urban planning at the University of Toronto, says that part of Tokyo’s success to get this low vehicle density begins by a chance. At the beginning of the 20th centuryjust 15% of the Japanese lived in cities. That figure is now 91%.

The explosion came with the end of World War II. The cities were razed and the growth in Tokyo was so chaotic that the buildings began to grow without control, some glued to others. You can compare with Google Maps photographs how Tokyo grew, completely uncontrolled with countless tiny plots, and how Rotterdam grew, with a planning studied to combine green areas in residential areas. Sorensen explains that this population explosion caused the flowering of narrow streets that hindered the passage and storage of the vehicles themselves.

The wave of workers to the cities forced the institutions They will turn off with public transport And in 1957 the first measure was taken to regulate the use of the car in cities. And, with rebound, a good reason to discourage its use. Since then a law is applied that prevents the car on the street. What is usual in any European city, in Japan it is strictly prohibited.

The fine is also no nonsense. They apply sanctions of up to 200,000 yen for leaving the car irregularly parked what is a fine of more than 1,200 euros.

Just a few years later, in 1962 the Shako Shomeishho. This name refers to the certificate that the buyer of a car has to present when acquiring the vehicle. With him it is guaranteed that this person has a place to park the car. That is, it has a parking space to park the car every night. If you don’t have a garage, you will be forbidden to buy a car.

This Shako Shomeisho does not apply to Kei Carsthe small Japanese cars that measure less than 3.4 meters in length, 1.48 meters wide and 2.0 meters high and with motors of less than 660 cc that cannot exceed the 64 hp of power. Of course, in the larger cities such as Tokyo and Osaka, the obligation to have the garage certificate to get a vehicle is also applied.

The Shako Shomeishho has triggered the price of the land of parking lots. In fact, the expensive thing is not to buy a car, the expensive thing is to get the possibility of buying a car. Is Something similar to what happens in Singapore With a subtle difference: there are spaces available to park cars in Tokyo that are sold for more than one million euros and in the ads themselves the yield that can be taken out allowing the rental of vehicles per hour is reflected.

And you have to keep in mind that Not all parking lots are valid. The garage to save the car must be less than two kilometers from the usual residence and to get the certificate, it must be able to corroborate this with plans or even require the entry and exit measures of the garage. If the car is too large, the buyer can have problems for the authorities to approve the certificate and have nowhere to park … or rent it.

The solution can go through rent the garages But there are neighborhoods where monthly rentals can easily go above 500 euros (about 77,000 yen). In some very specific places in the most expensive neighborhoods, the spaces They are quoted with rents above 700 euros (110,000 yen).

How could it be otherwise, the houses for sale are offered with triggered prices when the “central” combiance and “parking space” shake hands. With offers that exceed 3.5 million euros (550 million yen) for houses of 130 m2 … and with space to park two cars!

And what costs to have a car

But, in addition to all of the above, maintaining a car in Japan is extremely expensive. Circular on your highways is to make sure that you are going to constantly drive and, simply, keep having the car last three years to invest good money.

Which We could call the Japanese ITVhis Shakenis passed to three years (four in Spain) and then repeat each biannually. If the car has a Motor too powerfulthe first review is shortened for two years. This process includes inspection rates (which does not vary), civil liability insurance (mandatory) and vehicle weight taxes. Its price depends on the state of the vehicle, but oscillates Between 100 and 200,000 yen, which are between 600 and 1,200 euros. In Spain they have risen it, but for less than 60 euros you have the ITV.

This review can be carried out by authorized workshops but the price continues to oscillate between 20,000 and 80,000 yen (120 to 500 euros) as little. This added to the extended insurance that is convenient to hire (as in Spain, it is recommended to expand civil liability insurance), the maintenance of the car even absurd prices is responsible.

The cost of tolls, as we say, is very expensive. Per kilometer, not as much as in Spain (about 70 euros for about 700 kilometers, for example) But the absence of free roads and other fast roads for which it can be circulated without paying has turned Japan into a country where cars in large cities shine by their absence. Especially if we take into account the extensive quick rail network that unites and crosses the entire country.

Photos | Jezael Melgoza, Jean Housen and Alex Knight

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