After living 13 straight years car lite in Japan (with a brief stint in Taiwan and Singapore with no car at all), where even then the vast majority of the time, the family car only moved once every 3 days for bulk grocery runs and ferrying kids to/from family on the other side of the Tama River in suburban Tokyo, I can 💯 this entire thread.

1. Most North Americans I’ve run across (both 🇺🇸 & 🇨🇦) residing long term in Japan usually say they can’t go back to the commute hellscape in whatever town they came from.
   The money saved by not needing to maintain a vehicle’s ongoing tangible and intangible costs are huge and very realized once they are able to live in a place where it can be realized.
2. The chances of having this kind of lifestyle in our home countries being slim is one of the many factors North American expats subconsciously consider when the “should I stay or should I go” question hits.
3. Having conversations about this type of life with people who don’t have the above experience is frustrating in the same manner as trying to describe the feel of the sand, smell of the ocean and sound of the waves to a person who has never been to a beach before.
4. Most Americans cannot fathom going anywhere without driving and even many who live in places like New York City’s outer boroughs may only understand taking transit to work but everything else requires a car.