I own two personal vehicles and still use them as sparingly as I reasonably can. Rural Japan still is pretty car-dependent especially as tax revenues decrease with the aging population leading to cuts to things like bus service. I wish they'd focus more on good bus service. That would leave those of us who still need them for business (one of my jobs is as a farmer and I sometimes need to go pick up and delivery things) and cases such as disability.

I grew up in rural Ohio, USA where a car was hard-required to have any effective life. Europe as a teen showed me some of what could be (though, as chance would have it, I got to experience several transport strikes while there which did not really improve my opinion at the time) and Japan completely changed me. Once I saw what even suburban Japan could do, I never wanted to go back.