Meet the Sakura, the best-selling electric car in Japan. It has driver assistance, auto-parking, fast charging, bi-directional power, and acres of charm. The killer stat: It only costs $17,000.
I mean… even in Japan (basically the mecca of public transit), you need a car for a lot of “last mile” transit to smaller towns. And you want a car for many (most?) towns because there might only be two or three buses per day.
Makoto Shinkai’s movies LOVE to focus on this as a way to build tension. Have one of the characters spend two or three days taking a long chain of trains and buses to reach the one that they love only to have to spend the night at a motel in a nowhere town where they can then have a heartfelt talk about what they are actually looking for.
And if you actually go there (or to “Western Europe”) and want to go somewhere other than the most touristy of places? You rapidly realize how true that is. Less so the “talk to the friend who is taking off work to help you check in on the girl you used to body swap with” part and more the idea of needing to transfer to three different trains and run to catch a bus because the alternative is you are waiting for 3 hours at a tiny 7-11 and then spending the night at the bus station when you arrive.
I mean… even in Japan (basically the mecca of public transit), you need a car for a lot of “last mile” transit to smaller towns. And you want a car for many (most?) towns because there might only be two or three buses per day.
Makoto Shinkai’s movies LOVE to focus on this as a way to build tension. Have one of the characters spend two or three days taking a long chain of trains and buses to reach the one that they love only to have to spend the night at a motel in a nowhere town where they can then have a heartfelt talk about what they are actually looking for.
And if you actually go there (or to “Western Europe”) and want to go somewhere other than the most touristy of places? You rapidly realize how true that is. Less so the “talk to the friend who is taking off work to help you check in on the girl you used to body swap with” part and more the idea of needing to transfer to three different trains and run to catch a bus because the alternative is you are waiting for 3 hours at a tiny 7-11 and then spending the night at the bus station when you arrive.