Something is happening to parking lots in Tokyo. In a word, they’re disappearing. The one where I caught this superbly preserved Sprinter, for instance, has been fenced up since late last year (I took the pictures in May 2022). Since I moved in this city, I’ve seen at least 20 large parking lots disappear. It’s alarming in a way – they are a great source of CCs. But what does it say about car ownership in the Japanese capital in general?
In a word: it’s low and getting lower. There are over 900 cars per 1000 people in the US. In Japan, the figure is only 660, but there is a big difference between town and country: in Tokyo, it’s more like 200 nowadays, down from an all-time max of 246 in the mid-‘90s. Sure, it never got very high, but it was essentially near zero in the early ‘50s. The trend is now on the decrease, though.
There are many reasons for this, including the fact that people are getting older and give up renewing their driver’s license. Land prices and rents are going up, making large plots occupied by parking lots very attractive to build on. Car renting and sharing has become a huge thing here, too. And it’s just plain inconvenient to drive in this town. The streets are just too narrow to be practical, even for kei cars.
What does this all have to do with the E100 Sprinter here? Nothing directly, but it does come from a time when car ownership in Tokyo was still creeping upwards. And so too did car parks, given how little street parking is available here. There are still a lot of smaller lots dotted about, with three or four spaces for regular-sized cars and maybe a few motorcycles (bike parking is a whole nother situation), but the bigger lots are disappearing fast, at least in my little corner of the megalopolis. Why, just as I started writing this piece, I noticed that one very close to my digs, where I caught this Porsche 914 back in 2020, was closed down. Soon to be replaced by a ten-storey apartment block with no provision for parking, no doubt.
Anyway, let’s focus on this Sprinter, if only for a moment. I’m sure some of you will know it better are the Geo Prizm, but in its home market, it could be pretty luxurious. It’s basically an A100 Corolla with a different body and aspirations of being a junior Mark II, especially in this more refined 1.6 litre G-badged guise.
But then, that was the Sprinter’s brief from the get-go, back in 1970: to be a slightly more polished and exclusive variant of the popular Toyota. The Mercury me-too clone to the Corolla’s Ford, if you will. The interior certainly has more of an upmarket feel to it. The aftermarket steering wheel adds a little colour, too.
These were made in Japan between 1991 and 1995, right when JDM saloons hit peak luxury. Nothing much about the rear bench is all that lah-dee-dah, just plain decent. The front seats are set all the way back, so the rear legroom looks a bit measured in this photo, but that’s just an impression.
The inevitable decline of the automobile as a viable mode of daily transport within this city, on the other hand, is a proven fact. The recent acceleration of parking lot closures is just the latest symptom, one that the long-term trends might have foretold. It does take a while for these things to change the physical world, but they do eventually. After two straight decades of decline in car ownership, parking space over-capacity is finally being addressed. And Tokyo’s pretty much the last place in the country where population is still rising, so the real estate has to be used somehow.
The Sprinter? Oh, yes. Great car. Reliable. Well built. Handsome bordering on almost pretty. Sorry your ten minutes of CC fame had to be hijacked by a lengthy rant about urban automobile temporary storage, but that’s the way it goes. Just needed to park it here.
Related post:
Curbside Classic: 1995 Geo Prizm – NUMMI Bear, by Joseph Dennis
The juxtaposition of the Momo-style wooden and metal racing steering wheel and aftermarket shift knob with the seat doilies must be noted.
Also, why can’t we have these nice seat fabrics anymore?
Interesting statistics about car ownership. I’m guessing that 900/1000 (cars per 1000 licensed drivers) is an average in the US. It seems that the top 25 states in terms of ownership run from almost 2500 cars per 1000 (Montana) to almost 1300 (Virginia). Things is, several states with large populations (NY, NJ, Arizona) weigh down the bottom end of the curve with rather low rates of ownership (around and below 1000 per 1000). Perhaps this foretells what may sooner than later be a trend here in the US with falling rates as well…although overall, rates of ownership are still climbing in most states. What’s interesting to me from an historical perspective is that the 2021 data indicates that the number of single vehicle households are climbing as are “more than three vehicle” households, whereas two vehicle households are declining.
But actually, the fact that you cite about how the increasing age of the population impacts car ownership is really interesting to me. I’d never really thought of licensed drivers being an indicator for an aging (increasingly senior) population, but that absolutely makes sense. I do know that Japan has the oldest population in the world and that there is much talk by demographers about how this may lie in the not-too-distant future for the US. That makes sense too…although I dare say that the US probably has a way to go in so far as improving public transportation if we want our growing population of seniors to be anything less then miserable and home-bound.
One thing that skews US-vs-Japan comparisons on this is that Tokyo is proportionally a much larger share of Japan’s population and landmass than all the islands of walkable urbanism in America put together (inner borough NYC, center city Philadelphia, the Chicago Loop and maybe certain parts of LA although those tend to be disconnected from one another). And once you start picking out parts of smaller American cities you’d have to look at central parts of small Japanese ones too.
Seems that there would be a lot of factors that could influence statistics on cars-per-people, and they pull in all directions.
One factor is the presence of children. “Per people” statistics typically count all people, and children don’t own cars. Therefore, in theory, lots of children will drive down that ratio, and an absence of children would drive it up. But then again, families are probably more inclined to own vehicles (or multiple vehicles), so maybe that acts as a counterweight?
Elderly people, likewise, probably influence this number, since I presume vehicle ownership decreases over age 70.
Japan has very low birthrates, relatively few families (in comparison to other countries), and more proportionally more Seniors than any other country. But there’s still a high proportion of people in Japan in that middle range (ages 20-70) who are most likely to own cars. Plus, like nlpnt mentions above, the heavily urbanized nature of Japan as a whole is undoubtedly an influencing factor in national statistics.
It would be interesting to see how Japan’s vehicle ownership trends (or just Tokyo’s) compare with comparable Asian urban areas. Singapore and Hong Kong, for instance, both have relatively low birth rates, but don’t have the high proportion of elderly that Japan does.
Conversely, China is probably now where Japan was in the 1970s, with vehicle ownership ballooning. And I often wonder just where all those cars in China park at night?
The data I quote for the US is based on licensed drivers. I too wondered at first if it was just population…which absolutely would skew the data as you describe.
https://www.forbes.com/advisor/car-insurance/car-ownership-statistics/#many_americans_section
I’m not sure the basis for Tatra87’s data about Japan, but I’d hope that it’s an equivalent basis.
Ah – thanks.
Something seems off about that data, though. In addition to the estimates of cars per 1,000 licensed drivers, the same table provides the % change over the 2017-21 five-year period.
There’s a lot of fluctuation in the data that compares 2017 to ’21. For example, thirteen states had that metric (vehicles per 1,000 licensed drivers) increase by more than 10% over that period. Six states are measured as having a decrease of more than 10% over the same period. A swing that big, over a short 5-year period, would seem to be nearly statistically impossible. Granted, that period (which contains a lot of demographic shuffling due to Covid policies) was bumpier than usual, but I’m still a bit skeptical of data accuracy here. I think there’s a good chance that either the population estimates, or the vehicle estimates, may be off.
Did Delaware’s vehicles-per-capita really increase by 50% over 5 years? Maine’s by 28%? Did West Virginia’s decrease by 27%? If I were publishing that data, I’d scrutinize those numbers a bit more.
It would be worth adding population density as a variable. I’m sure averages are skewed by the availability of alternatives. When we lived in the Portland suburbs we had one car, and my son and I got around by bicycle and train. When we moved to Bend our son finally got his license and a car because the transit situation was poor. In the rural areas we vacation in car ownership is even higher because fewer people live in towns and more live outside town and need to drive places. That’s also a challenge in places with aging populations and low density. I guess the old folks need to move off the farms, or there’s going to be a para transit driver crisis.
That Sprinter is beautiful. The five-door version was sold as a Corolla Liftback on this side of the pond, to complement the Corolla Hatchback (which had a short tail and tiny boot/trunk).
Some of the detailing on the front is a bit more staid and Honda Accord-like than what the Geo Prizm had. It’s interesting that in Japan the Sprinter was slightly upmarket while the Prizm had the sense of being a store-brand special, a little bit less expensive new and used than a “name-brand” Corolla but not cheapened-out, just a solid discount for being in the know.
This seems much more attractive than the equivalent Corolla.
On the aging of the Japanese population, and particularly Japanese drivers, I have some English-language copies of the Japanese car magazine Motor Car and Cycle International, from the mid seventies. They show a country quietly proud of its automotive achievements, while at the same time including basic driving and maintenance articles clearly aimed at the first-time driver. A curious juxtaposition.
That Sprinter reminds me a lot of the XV10 Camry, as it’s in the same time frame. The flush doors into the roof and the shape, for example. The quality of the interior materials are equivalent, too. This was spec’d in before the bubble burst, and subsequent models suffered from decontenting.
As for demographics of the Tokyo area with respect to car ownership – Tokyo attracts younger people from smaller towns and villages – which leads to depopulation in rural areas. They may be in the prime car ownership age group, although frankly, in metro Tokyo, you really don’t need to own a car given the extensive public transport network here.
Im not sure about how many cars er head here but during lockdown streets and house yards in urban Auckland were crammed with cars literally,
Toyota Sprinters are here ex JDM many of them had the 2C NA diesel engines but with marginally nicer trim than Corollas, this era of Toyota are becoming rare as they fail 6 monthly inspection very few folk bother fixing them its simply not worth the expense when another fresh shiny used import with no arts backup is easier to get.
The number of cars in Tokyo is interesting. I have been looking at hotels for our March visit and found one with an “Automated Multi-story Parking Lot”. With 4 stalls, one of which is for guests with a wheelchair. First come first served, 3,000 yen per night and 300 yen per hr if you stay past your checkout time. Compared to our 2015 trip to San Francisco and $50 USD per day for parking this is a bargain. Assuming you can get one of the spots. Glad we don’t have to drive in Tokyo!
This is a great car, and I love those fender mounted indicators. It always astounds me to see the condition of older cars in central Japan, my experiences in Hokkaido are somewhat different.
Thanks Tatra-san for another great post!