Are most cars in Japan manual or automatic?

Question

That's question one.

Question Two is:
Are there certain suburban areas/small cities in Japan where you absolutely MUST have a car?

I won't live in the countryside, so that's out of the question. If I live in a big city like Tokyo or Osaka, I won't drive at all. But will living in a smaller city, like Kumamoto, Aomori or Morioka require a car? Or will I be able to get around perfectly fine by buses and trains in those places?

(About myself: I can't drive and I come from a place where public transport is popular. I'm thinking about learning to drive, and I'm in the UK right now, where manual cars predominate and public transport outside London is barely adequate at best.)

THANKS!! =)

Answer 1

1) I can't give statistics or numbers but I believe Automatic is more popular than manual.


2) You should be fine without a car in the areas you mentioned. There are public transportation almost everywhere in Japan (Bus, trains) so usually going about everyday business is not a huge problem. My highschool was a boarding school in Chiba in an area close to Kisarazu called Yana and the closest bus stop was 15 mins walking distance away. But the problem was the bus only stopped once every 60 mins or so so if you missed that bus it was a looooong wait for another one to come by.
In areas like these, you will for sure need a car to make things easier but if you live by the station (The school I went to was 35 mins away from the closest station on a cab) then transportation is not an issue you'd have to worry about.

Of course if the station itself is small and halfway desereted then always better (easier) to have your own car.

So stay in the city area if you want to ride public transportation. Think about getting a car when you move into the country side where you're surrounded by rice fields.

Answer 2

I don't think I've seen a Japanese car without automatic. I can't drive either because of a stupid base rule. Japan has in my opinion, the best public transportation in the world (well next to singapore). Even in very remote areas, and I live on Kyushu outside of Nagasaki there are trains and buses. If you are going to live in even a small town, you shouldn't have a problem getting around. Buses are probably the cheapest way to go, taxis are pretty pricey here. Trains are very good also if you can figure them out.

Answer 3

1) as many people said, most of the cars are automatic.

2) having a car, even in the inaka (countryside) is not a necessity. I had one and only ever used it when my family came around. I lived in the inaka and the public transport is fantastic. Only thing is, sometimes the last bus/train is at 11pm, so you can't go out til late (if you went into the city). But then there are always friend's places you can crash at.

I would not recommend getting a car. In my experiences, the hassle with shaken and then scrapping/selling the car when you leave is not worth it!

Answer 4

According to 日本自動車販売協会連合会 ( Japan Automobile Dealers Association ), automatics accounted for 95.1% as of 2003. I think it's around 97% now.

As for my friends, all of them have automatics. No friends who have a manual car. But I like manual cars very much. I love driving.

I think you need a car in a city whose population is under 1 million in order to get around comfortably there.

Are you living in an urban area and enjoying there now? Then I recommend to live in a big city if you move to Japan. Many young people want to live in the Tokyo metropolitan area to enjoy their lives because Tokyo has lots of amusement places.

I will list some big cities other than the Kanto urban area.

Sapporo
Sendai
Nagoya
Kyoto
Osaka
Kobe
Hiroshima
Fukuoka

Answer 5

cars are mostly automatic (95%)
Kumamoto Aomori Iwate (Morioka) are not small cities. Car is not necessary to you for your daily life. You can use bus and train in there.

Answer 6

manual. japanese cars I love.