[Sangetsu]

I have a car which I bought from another foreigner who was leaving the country. The price was good, and the car came with more than a year left on the inspection and insurance. Parking for me wasn't an issue, my apartment here came with a space, and my GF's apartment in Tokyo also has a space.

A car really isn't necessary in the metro areas, and in many cases it is an inconvenience. Finding your own parking space is hard enough, finding one while in the city shopping is another ordeal altogether.

But I live outside the city, where the roads are nice and the traffic is light. It's nice to have a car to take to the beach, or for going shopping. Before getting a car, shopping for large items was a pain. I would have to arrange for delivery, and and try to rearrange my schedule so as not to miss the delivery people.

A navigation system is a must; addresses in Japan are not sequential as they are in other places in the world, so you might find #19 between #6 and #7, rather than next to #18. Many navi systems are multi-ingual, but they are expensive. In my case, I use the GPS/navi on my cell phone for finding addresses.