The need to have a garage space before owning a car might in part reflect why Japanese cars are so well cared for and why so many are released for export as they get older as, maintaining them to the required standards can become expensive. Most Japanese do not get involved in mechanical repairs, and as a result, mechanics can charge high prices. Vehicles that cannot pass inspection are not permitted on public roads. Unwanted vehicles must be exported or destroyed and recycled. Many Japanese used vehicles are exported once it is no longer cost-effective to keep them in service in Japan. The two yearly car test can cost between between Y100,000 and Y200,000
Under the 1962 Garage Act, motorists in Japan need to obtain a "garage certificate" (or "Shako shomei sho") from local police in order to register a car (or when changing address as a car owner). The certificate is to prove that they have access to an off-street parking space.
Japan's proof-of-parking rule does not require ownership of a parking space. Permission to lease the space is good enough.
If you are renting in a building with no parking you are not prevented from buying a car. You would just have to find a parking space to lease nearby and prove this to the local police.
The rule initially applied only to the large cities, according to a footnote on page 243 of "Local Government in Japan" by Kurt Steine (1965). However, it now seems to apply much more widely.
Japan's proof-of-parking rule has an essential twin policy, the ban on overnight parking, which effectively bans on-street residential parking. This ban on all-night parking makes it futile to cheat on the proof-of-parking rule. Suppose a motorist did cheat or bribe to somehow get a fake proof-of-parking certificate, where will you put your car? You still can't park overnight in the streets. Try it and the car would still be towed away within a day or two.
Conversely, the proof-of-parking rule makes the overnight on-street parking ban more politically feasible by undermining claims from motorists that they have no choice but to park in the street.
This synergy with the overnight parking ban also explains why it is no big deal that an exception is made (in some areas) for tiny cars or "kei" cars, which have yellow license plates. Owners of these little cars do not need to prove access to a parking space but they still can't park in the streets overnight.
Last edited by JohnHarris; 17/01/25 11:24 AM.
