Yes, the roads are really narrow here. Main roads aren`t (at least not in Nagoya) but there will be small streets that are about the width of 1 and a half cars, which will be both ways. When another car comes, you have to find a spot to pull off at the side (usually people`s driveway or in front of a business or something) so that the other car can pass.

I think the cars here are considerably less wasteful of space than those in the US. There is plenty of room inside the car - some of them are really spacious - just not a ton of extra space that isn`t used most of the time anyway. Gas use is lower thanks to that.

Oh, and you do indeed have to have proof of a parking space with a kei. I don`t know about in the past, but you definitely need to now. Currently, taxes are just lower. This applies in the countryside also (Father in law had to make a map and detailed measurements proving that every single kei truck he had for the company had a secure place to park on the property)
I would personally never choose to own a kei - they don`t do so well going over mountains, which we often do - but they`re fairly popular as little about-town cars.

Hmm
 

Yes, the Miata exists in Japan. It is simply called the Mazda Roadster.

Mazda MX-5 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

in japan they seem to have the smaller and quality is better than us americans with the whole bigger and quantity is better! oooh hmm i don't know if i'd want a car in japan because of the neat transportation system :)

We had a Subaru Forrester, it was quite large but we used it alot to go skiing. The only trouble was going down the tiny side streets and thinking you were going to end up in the gaijin traps on either side. It was great when another car wanted to come down the road in the opposit direction!

aww real cute car nyororin!
wish they did nice ones like that here (UK)

just thought i'd share this with ya's
; taken near kyoto :P



... how does teh top car get down if the bottom car is still there? o___0

I am guessing that one is a company parking lot - The top cars never need to come down while the bottom one is in there. They use whichever is available, as they`re company cars. Sort of a first come, first serve situation.

Our parking lot is similar to that, but instead of having one car up in the air all the time, one is underground. You press a button and it brings the lower car up to street level.
We don`t use them though- our condo has a normal "ground" spot.

This isn't just done at a company parking lot. Many condos and even stores in Japan have something like this. Sometimes those lots have attendants that can move the lower car. But I've seen these lots in places where there were no apparent attendants. At Condos, I think both spaces may be owned by one household, so it is up to them to get the bottom car out of the way, but other than that I've never been able to figure it out.

When I've seen a parking lot like this, I've ALWAYS parked on the bottom and I try to find a spot that doesn't have a car on top.

All the ones I have seen that aren`t a) both owned by the same person or b) a company parking lot, allow the bottom car to be lowered into an underground spot. For condos, that is really popular.

I`ll just scratch my head at the store one, because I`ve never seen a store using those. Attendants I have seen, but they`re usually to raise and lower them, not to actually move the cars.