Comments on: Who pays for parking? http://blog.japantimes.co.jp/yen-for-living/who-pays-for-parking/ How to make, save and spend money in Japan. Sat, 18 May 2013 10:38:25 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.5.1 By: Philip http://blog.japantimes.co.jp/yen-for-living/who-pays-for-parking/comment-page-1/#comment-29 Philip Tue, 15 Sep 2009 00:13:51 +0000 http://blog.japantimes.co.jp/yen-for-living/?p=267#comment-29 Shopping at a store without a parking lot is becoming less of an option, especially if you live outside a major city. Since the passage of the so-called Big Store law more than ten years ago (as a result of American pressure) more and more shopping centers are being built in the suburbs and smaller merchants can’t compete, so shotengai (shopping arcades) are closing down and turning into shatta-dori (shuttered streets). Of course, parking at these shopping centers is free–you don’t even need to buy anything–but if you don’t have a car you have to find some other way to get there since they usually aren’t located in residential areas but rather in abandoned farmland.

The shutter street syndrome is even encroaching on cities. The photograph above was taken at LaLa Terrace, near Minamisenju in Tokyo. Since it opened about four years ago, more and more local merchants have gone out of business in the area. The DPJ’s plan to make expressways free will only exacerbate the situation.

]]> By: Joe Jones http://blog.japantimes.co.jp/yen-for-living/who-pays-for-parking/comment-page-1/#comment-26 Joe Jones Mon, 14 Sep 2009 05:16:52 +0000 http://blog.japantimes.co.jp/yen-for-living/?p=267#comment-26 Big difference: If you don’t like paying for other people’s parking, you can shop at a store without a parking lot. Problem solved.

Now, on the other hand, your tax dollars are going to pay for all those highways that are now free or very cheap to motorists. *There’s* something to actually get worked up about.

]]>