Amsterdammer who visited Japan seven times here. You are absolutely right about the design of the streets. But a lot of you RUclipsrs seem to ignore one thing: the attitude of the North American drivers. It’s all about them. Me, me, me. Here in the Netherlands all drivers are also cyclists or pedestrians. They know how to share a street with somebody else. In general the Japanese are much more obedient to (the traffic) rules than North Americans . In remote sleepy villages they wait for a red light, even when there is not a car passing for another 30 minutes. It still baffles me.
I'm an American who lived in NL. The main thing about NL is the dedicated bike lanes (best in the world), and the flatness of most of the country. What they don't tell you about is the WIND. Lol !
i agree that american car culture really sucks. however, its kinda caused by urban street design itself. you might have heard this, but drivers are incentivized to drive faster and more selfishly on wide and unimposed roads, like most in america. of course not all japanese or dutch streets are narrow and imposed, but preventing people from growing up in bad cities where cars get all the street space is what i think would mitigate the culture issue of cars.
American driver culture isn't uniform. Drivers in Somerville MA, or Albany CA, are pretty polite to pedestrians and obedient of yield signs. Especially on the narrower streets. I've read that a big determinant of how yielding drivers are is how fast they're going in the first place.
6:11 Speedbumps on local streets where people walk and bike would also be bad for anyone in a wheelchair. I like the traffic calming solutions you shared here! Thanks, Nic!
20 year JapanLifer here. I've been telling people for YEARS how the narrowness of the streets in Japan makes it so you need to slow down. Even when riding bikes! I had to take the regular driving course to get licensed here as well; this is something different as well; if you want to drive in Japan, you spend US$3000 to go to driving school for 3-5 months. That never happens in the US, even for commercial truckers. The other thing is ENFORCEMENT. Japanese traffic police are very good at their jobs, especially motorcycle and bike cops. The painted sharrows and edge laneing is very recent, like in the last 5-10 years or so; There's just a long history of Japanese traffic law being very strict especially beginning in the mid 1990's when it on-street parking was made illegal nationwide (something also not talked about by almost anyone, but is very noticeable to anyone coming to Japan.) I'll die on this hill: Laws are only as good as their enforcement, adherence and understanding. Learning to drive, ride, and even walk as a pedestrian in Japan is something that is reinforced and understood by the vast majority and that's the main reason why you see things the way they are. Enjoy Japan!
Great video, I love Japan's approach to infrastructure like this and housing. Honestly I wish we would do a trial run of building a neighbourhood in BC that uses the Japanese zoning code and design specifications and see what happens.
If I had more money and was at least twenty years younger I’d move to Japan in a heart beat, as it stands I can only fantasize wistfully. Great video! I also like the channel, “Where I’m from”which is also about Japan from a Canadian who moved to Tokyo I believe.
Great video, Nic! Love these super narrow complex streets. Brings back memories of my one and only trip to Japan in Hiroshima many years ago. It would be fun to take the Active Towns Tour back there once again. Maybe next year. Cheers! John
have been to japan 5 times now (was there last month for a week) and have yet to ride a bike there, but i can definitely imagine it being nicer. I'm sure not having to worry about bike thieves nearly as much also helps
American's and Canadian's seem to be very poor at accepting that other nations could come up with better ideas and seem to attempt to explain why the NA way is actually the better way instead of examining how what we could borrow from other countries to make our lives better. I think this has do to with partially with the othering/racism , partially with the human tribal identity and partially because of self imposed exceptionalism (re fallacy that ones interpretation of the world can't be wrong because they are the way they view the world)
Interesting focus on the local streets - yeah from my experience these really are the backbone of the cycling network, and kid of make up for the lack of proper network of protected cycle tracks. It seemed like most trips were local, which serves these types of trips, only having to occasionally cross an arterial every now and then (which you could legally ride on the sidewalk as well). Also saw a lot of kids cycling on their own and and moms with child seats on their bikes, which is a positive indicator that the infrastructure is working (if a majority of your cyclists are in guys in lycra suits on road bikes, your city is doing something wrong 😅).
@@nicthedoor too bad honestly cuz you went through all the strengths of Japanese streets in a concise video, but at least your other video about biking in Japan did get a lot of views!
Just got back from Japan (and if 3:50 is kyoto, i think cycled on this exact road haha). I definitely wasn't as comfortable cycling and walking in Kyoto as I would have liked - they seem to have an awful lot of busy roads with sharrows / narrow pavement, or a pretty meandering route following the backstreets like highlighted in this video. I cycled from Kyoto station to Arashiyama and it wasn't very pleasant sadly - loud & stinky main roads for most of the way sadly, very rarely with a properly marked segregated cycle lane. I love cycling and will try to take it over local transit whenever I can, but I just ended up wishing that I took the subway 🤷 but all the other cities I visited were great. just kyoto i had an issue with. not sure why.
Interesting video. Yes the narrow streets here do help, as do the lower speed limits in them. However, having live in Japan for years, Tokyo and a little in the countryside, the drivers are a bit more sporadic than you may think. By my guess, about 7/10 are pretty cautious and go slow, the rest speed through and rely on the fact most will be out of the way or get out of the way if they hear a car coming. The main things to watch out for is delivery drivers, bicyclists, and taxis. The delivery drivers and taxis are going quickly to try and be on time. The cyclists here treat bikes like walking, hard to describe, but they can often not pay much attention, cut corners at speed, and be on the wrong side of the road frequently. This may sound critical, not trying to come off that way. Overall it is better here than the few countries I have lived in by a lot. Just wanting to give a little extra of some negatives to balance.
While I enjoy Place, Japan and visit every year. I am pretty happy in Walkable Town USA as well. Japan does have some really bad stroads I have walked on. Rt10 in Beppu immediately comes to mind, I will say that Japan does get alot right, but it gets alot wrong too. They have been slow to embrace roundabouts, much slower than the US, or Canada so some areas have extremely bad traffic. The speed limits on the expressways are quite slow, when they don't need to be. Also Japan's rural and mountain roads are much harder to navigate than their American counterparts.
Rt10 doesn't look fun, no. 6 lanes of traffic, no trees or shade. But it's still better than the prototypical US stroad: usually wide sidewalks, and lots of physical barriers between traffic and the sidewalk (except where broken for driveways). Vs. US 4 foot sidewalk if any, no barrier... And Google Street View does capture a fair number of pedestrians. That said, if I had to walk north/south in that area, I'd be tempted to go east or west one block and take the narrow street, though granted they don't run all the way through.
@@longiusaescius2537 in what way? For 4 ways, roundabouts are better, but for 3 ways use a yield. Neither is pedestrian friendly and are more meant to be on roads, not streets
@@linuxman7777 I'm assuming all city speed limit isnt higher than 30kmh or 18 - 20~ mph btw. I dont see how roundabouts are useful in cities, in rural areas and highway ramps sure. Streets in neighborhoods should be single lane one way only, 8 - 9ft (2.4 - 2.7m) wide at most. maybe a few with the same arrangement slightly wider 12 - 15ft (3.6 - 4.5m) with day delivery parking (no overnight) or have a tram running through. Then a two lane one each way main street for the neighborhood maybe 24 - 36ft (7.3 - 11m) wide maybe with trees or vines planted in the middle like Vila de Gracia in Barcelona with same parking or tram, then outside of the neighborhood arterials are 3 lane (maybe 4) with 2 lanes being transit and one or two 9 - 10ft (2.7 - 3m) wide car lanes. And these arterials should have bike ways and wide sidewalks elevated and shielded from the road by trees. When two arterials intersect they should be yield intersection with a set up like Alexanderplein in Amsterdam.
I don't mean this as hate but this video comes across to me as a perfect example of viewing things through rose-tinted glasses and a case of over-analysing something until you start viewing completely unintentional aspects of something as ingenious and well thought out. I noticed this is a common theme when it comes to Japan because of people's affinity towards the country. Japanese streets are not bad compared to many countries but are really nothing special at all compared to the Netherlands or Denmark for example. Obviously Japanese cities are very compact and there is obviously not much that can be physically built in many scenarios so infrastructure and traffic-calming possibilities are limited but the streets shown in this video of footpaths simply drawn out with paint on an already narrow street is not something revolutionary in my opinion.
It's not revolutionary, it's just better than what we have in North America. This was meat to be a hyper focused video. Believe me, there's plenty of criticism to come.
@Ell.06 Only arterials should really have separated lanes, what's more interesting is the way neighborhoods are surrounded by tall commercial buildings and filled with low rise residential and light mixed use.
Japan is considered to be the safest country in the world. Culturally this can't happen in North America/Canada or even in most Western countries in general. If we started building streets like this in America/Canada crime would absolutely go nuts in these areas without a doubt. Especially in the Eastern countries like Japan, Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, China, there's a much more higher trusting society. Where as in the West its basically zero trust unless you live in the suburb and know everyone. if you live in a city forget about it. Great video.
@@a1sauce775 Ridiculous to think alleys are the major cause of crime, when lots of high-crime areas don't even have alleys. Anyway, what makes back alleys _potentially_ dangerous is that they're low visibility and not used much, not that they're narrow. The narrow streets of Japan? Those _are_ the street, with front doors opening onto them, and high foot traffic. Commit a crime there and you've got witnesses. Make someone scream and people can peer at you through their windows from 10 feet away. Not exactly safe for criminals.
@@mindstalk lol you're just coping. Or maybe its just a fact that people in the East, especially places like Japan actually commit less crime and have more social cohesion? Do you really think criminals in the West don't commit crimes because they see a window? lol comeon man. Its okay to give the East some props. I know Westerners can't handle the fact that sometimes people in the East can actually do something better, when the West is supposedly the beacon of society. But let me ask you this. Would you rather walk in the poorest neighborhood in America at night, or the poorest neighborhood in Japan? You know the answer. Then you know why the West like America can't have narrow streets like Japan.
America bad yes, but Japan had so many different factors when the car was coming of age. They couldn't afford full sized cars, land and population density, group mentality vs I got mine, American dream of grass yards, and most of all much different zoning. Canada and the US are not Tokyo, they never will be, and they never will change.
Amsterdammer who visited Japan seven times here.
You are absolutely right about the design of the streets. But a lot of you RUclipsrs seem to ignore one thing: the attitude of the North American drivers. It’s all about them. Me, me, me.
Here in the Netherlands all drivers are also cyclists or pedestrians. They know how to share a street with somebody else.
In general the Japanese are much more obedient to (the traffic) rules than North Americans . In remote sleepy villages they wait for a red light, even when there is not a car passing for another 30 minutes.
It still baffles me.
I'm an American who lived in NL. The main thing about NL is the dedicated bike lanes (best in the world), and the flatness of most of the country. What they don't tell you about is the WIND. Lol !
Left it on the cutting room floor so it's a topic I will be talking about in a future video. Specifically about Japanese drivers.
i agree that american car culture really sucks. however, its kinda caused by urban street design itself. you might have heard this, but drivers are incentivized to drive faster and more selfishly on wide and unimposed roads, like most in america. of course not all japanese or dutch streets are narrow and imposed, but preventing people from growing up in bad cities where cars get all the street space is what i think would mitigate the culture issue of cars.
the main point of the video imo should be that this better design causes better pedestrian culture
American driver culture isn't uniform. Drivers in Somerville MA, or Albany CA, are pretty polite to pedestrians and obedient of yield signs. Especially on the narrower streets. I've read that a big determinant of how yielding drivers are is how fast they're going in the first place.
6:11 Speedbumps on local streets where people walk and bike would also be bad for anyone in a wheelchair. I like the traffic calming solutions you shared here! Thanks, Nic!
And generally, it slows down the cars to make them accelerate more then, so more noise
Here in France, this is it
@@antoinemercier91122 Replies
Please consider doing a video on Japanese train stations that double as malls and grocery stores!
Nic in my favorite country talking about my favorite topic? Hell yeah, looking forward to it!
Another Banger from Nic! Japanese streets definitely have a complexity that many streets in north america lack like street vendors.
20 year JapanLifer here. I've been telling people for YEARS how the narrowness of the streets in Japan makes it so you need to slow down. Even when riding bikes!
I had to take the regular driving course to get licensed here as well; this is something different as well; if you want to drive in Japan, you spend US$3000 to go to driving school for 3-5 months. That never happens in the US, even for commercial truckers. The other thing is ENFORCEMENT. Japanese traffic police are very good at their jobs, especially motorcycle and bike cops.
The painted sharrows and edge laneing is very recent, like in the last 5-10 years or so; There's just a long history of Japanese traffic law being very strict especially beginning in the mid 1990's when it on-street parking was made illegal nationwide (something also not talked about by almost anyone, but is very noticeable to anyone coming to Japan.) I'll die on this hill: Laws are only as good as their enforcement, adherence and understanding. Learning to drive, ride, and even walk as a pedestrian in Japan is something that is reinforced and understood by the vast majority and that's the main reason why you see things the way they are.
Enjoy Japan!
20年は凄いな
Great video, I love Japan's approach to infrastructure like this and housing. Honestly I wish we would do a trial run of building a neighbourhood in BC that uses the Japanese zoning code and design specifications and see what happens.
It would quickly become the most expensive place to live in the city and thus politicians would refuse to extend the code due to gentrification.
@@jamalgibson81392 Replies
Great video. Never been to Japan before but happy to have learned something new about it.
If I had more money and was at least twenty years younger I’d move to Japan in a heart beat, as it stands I can only fantasize wistfully. Great video! I also like the channel, “Where I’m from”which is also about Japan from a Canadian who moved to Tokyo I believe.
Great video, Nic! Love these super narrow complex streets. Brings back memories of my one and only trip to Japan in Hiroshima many years ago. It would be fun to take the Active Towns Tour back there once again. Maybe next year. Cheers! John
Thanks John! I appreciate it.
Would definitely love to see some AT content from Japan. ;)
have been to japan 5 times now (was there last month for a week) and have yet to ride a bike there, but i can definitely imagine it being nicer. I'm sure not having to worry about bike thieves nearly as much also helps
American's and Canadian's seem to be very poor at accepting that other nations could come up with better ideas and seem to attempt to explain why the NA way is actually the better way instead of examining how what we could borrow from other countries to make our lives better. I think this has do to with partially with the othering/racism , partially with the human tribal identity and partially because of self imposed exceptionalism (re fallacy that ones interpretation of the world can't be wrong because they are the way they view the world)
Interesting focus on the local streets - yeah from my experience these really are the backbone of the cycling network, and kid of make up for the lack of proper network of protected cycle tracks. It seemed like most trips were local, which serves these types of trips, only having to occasionally cross an arterial every now and then (which you could legally ride on the sidewalk as well).
Also saw a lot of kids cycling on their own and and moms with child seats on their bikes, which is a positive indicator that the infrastructure is working (if a majority of your cyclists are in guys in lycra suits on road bikes, your city is doing something wrong 😅).
Good job making this video before the release of similar ones by NJB, Life Where I'm From and then CityBeautiful, you had a head start here
Apparently not with the views 😂😭
@@nicthedoor too bad honestly cuz you went through all the strengths of Japanese streets in a concise video, but at least your other video about biking in Japan did get a lot of views!
Just got back from Japan (and if 3:50 is kyoto, i think cycled on this exact road haha).
I definitely wasn't as comfortable cycling and walking in Kyoto as I would have liked - they seem to have an awful lot of busy roads with sharrows / narrow pavement, or a pretty meandering route following the backstreets like highlighted in this video.
I cycled from Kyoto station to Arashiyama and it wasn't very pleasant sadly - loud & stinky main roads for most of the way sadly, very rarely with a properly marked segregated cycle lane. I love cycling and will try to take it over local transit whenever I can, but I just ended up wishing that I took the subway 🤷
but all the other cities I visited were great. just kyoto i had an issue with. not sure why.
Don't worry, I have a lot to say about the rest of cycling. It's definitely not all good.
You probably did ride that street if you went to arashiyama!
After watching this, I NEED to move to Japan
Interesting video. Yes the narrow streets here do help, as do the lower speed limits in them. However, having live in Japan for years, Tokyo and a little in the countryside, the drivers are a bit more sporadic than you may think. By my guess, about 7/10 are pretty cautious and go slow, the rest speed through and rely on the fact most will be out of the way or get out of the way if they hear a car coming. The main things to watch out for is delivery drivers, bicyclists, and taxis. The delivery drivers and taxis are going quickly to try and be on time. The cyclists here treat bikes like walking, hard to describe, but they can often not pay much attention, cut corners at speed, and be on the wrong side of the road frequently.
This may sound critical, not trying to come off that way. Overall it is better here than the few countries I have lived in by a lot. Just wanting to give a little extra of some negatives to balance.
Great video!
While I enjoy Place, Japan and visit every year. I am pretty happy in Walkable Town USA as well. Japan does have some really bad stroads I have walked on. Rt10 in Beppu immediately comes to mind, I will say that Japan does get alot right, but it gets alot wrong too. They have been slow to embrace roundabouts, much slower than the US, or Canada so some areas have extremely bad traffic. The speed limits on the expressways are quite slow, when they don't need to be. Also Japan's rural and mountain roads are much harder to navigate than their American counterparts.
Rt10 doesn't look fun, no. 6 lanes of traffic, no trees or shade. But it's still better than the prototypical US stroad: usually wide sidewalks, and lots of physical barriers between traffic and the sidewalk (except where broken for driveways). Vs. US 4 foot sidewalk if any, no barrier... And Google Street View does capture a fair number of pedestrians.
That said, if I had to walk north/south in that area, I'd be tempted to go east or west one block and take the narrow street, though granted they don't run all the way through.
@linuxman7777 yield signs and narrow roads are better than roundabouts
@@longiusaescius2537 in what way? For 4 ways, roundabouts are better, but for 3 ways use a yield.
Neither is pedestrian friendly and are more meant to be on roads, not streets
@@linuxman7777 I'm assuming all city speed limit isnt higher than 30kmh or 18 - 20~ mph btw.
I dont see how roundabouts are useful in cities, in rural areas and highway ramps sure. Streets in neighborhoods should be single lane one way only, 8 - 9ft (2.4 - 2.7m) wide at most. maybe a few with the same arrangement slightly wider 12 - 15ft (3.6 - 4.5m) with day delivery parking (no overnight) or have a tram running through. Then a two lane one each way main street for the neighborhood maybe 24 - 36ft (7.3 - 11m) wide maybe with trees or vines planted in the middle like Vila de Gracia in Barcelona with same parking or tram, then outside of the neighborhood arterials are 3 lane (maybe 4) with 2 lanes being transit and one or two 9 - 10ft (2.7 - 3m) wide car lanes. And these arterials should have bike ways and wide sidewalks elevated and shielded from the road by trees. When two arterials intersect they should be yield intersection with a set up like Alexanderplein in Amsterdam.
actually its safer to bike in japan compared here in the philippines 😂 i hope you can try it here 😊
Next step is to get cars out of cities altogether. They just don't belong.
Are you a road nazi or something 😂
❤❤❤❤❤❤
You should have included Netherlands in that graph because Japanese streets are statistically safer than the NL as well!
How is an "edge lane road" different from the denigrated "bicycle gutter" (painted bike lane, no car parking) in North America?
The center lane is typically very narrow. I'll be making a video about it in the near future
Poggers vid man
I don't mean this as hate but this video comes across to me as a perfect example of viewing things through rose-tinted glasses and a case of over-analysing something until you start viewing completely unintentional aspects of something as ingenious and well thought out. I noticed this is a common theme when it comes to Japan because of people's affinity towards the country. Japanese streets are not bad compared to many countries but are really nothing special at all compared to the Netherlands or Denmark for example. Obviously Japanese cities are very compact and there is obviously not much that can be physically built in many scenarios so infrastructure and traffic-calming possibilities are limited but the streets shown in this video of footpaths simply drawn out with paint on an already narrow street is not something revolutionary in my opinion.
It's not revolutionary, it's just better than what we have in North America.
This was meat to be a hyper focused video. Believe me, there's plenty of criticism to come.
@Ell.06 Only arterials should really have separated lanes, what's more interesting is the way neighborhoods are surrounded by tall commercial buildings and filled with low rise residential and light mixed use.
What were you doing in Japan?
Visiting friends and filming all the bike infrastructure of course.
Japan is considered to be the safest country in the world. Culturally this can't happen in North America/Canada or even in most Western countries in general. If we started building streets like this in America/Canada crime would absolutely go nuts in these areas without a doubt. Especially in the Eastern countries like Japan, Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, China, there's a much more higher trusting society. Where as in the West its basically zero trust unless you live in the suburb and know everyone. if you live in a city forget about it. Great video.
Ridiculous to think that narrow streets would cause crime.
@mindstalk No, it does bring criminals closer to their victims though
@@mindstalk uh....have you seen alleyways in the West? Literally where people get robbed/killed/r*aped. Those are narrow streets fyi.
@@a1sauce775 Ridiculous to think alleys are the major cause of crime, when lots of high-crime areas don't even have alleys. Anyway, what makes back alleys _potentially_ dangerous is that they're low visibility and not used much, not that they're narrow.
The narrow streets of Japan? Those _are_ the street, with front doors opening onto them, and high foot traffic. Commit a crime there and you've got witnesses. Make someone scream and people can peer at you through their windows from 10 feet away. Not exactly safe for criminals.
@@mindstalk lol you're just coping. Or maybe its just a fact that people in the East, especially places like Japan actually commit less crime and have more social cohesion?
Do you really think criminals in the West don't commit crimes because they see a window? lol comeon man. Its okay to give the East some props. I know Westerners can't handle the fact that sometimes people in the East can actually do something better, when the West is supposedly the beacon of society.
But let me ask you this. Would you rather walk in the poorest neighborhood in America at night, or the poorest neighborhood in Japan? You know the answer. Then you know why the West like America can't have narrow streets like Japan.
America bad yes, but Japan had so many different factors when the car was coming of age. They couldn't afford full sized cars, land and population density, group mentality vs I got mine, American dream of grass yards, and most of all much different zoning. Canada and the US are not Tokyo, they never will be, and they never will change.
@postbreak American suburbia exists because Lincoln died early, SUVs are huge because of CAFE standards