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Tokyo wealth gap?
Is there a huge wealth gap in the Tokyo area? It seems like 80% of the vehicles are taxi's, bu… I'm part way through a 2 week trip through Japan and realized one major thing: all the cars are so nice.
Is there a huge wealth gap in the Tokyo area? It seems like 80% of the vehicles are taxi's, but nice taxi's. And the other 20% are like $100k cars. I live in a wealthy area, but I've never seen so many Mercedes G class's, S class, Aston martins, etc. Even the few vehicles I see that aren't $100k are all new. Seems like nothing is older than 5yrs except the 1995 Toyota Crown Taxi
One thing tourists miss is that the car market here is basically a used car export machine. Dealers buy up the cleanest low-mileage stuff and ship it to Russia, Southeast Asia, or New Zealand before it ever hits the secondhand lot. So what stays on Japanese streets is either brand new, a taxi, or a kei car that's too small to bother exporting. You're seeing a curated slice, not the actual fleet.
For the wealth gap itself, go check out the public housing towers in Koto-ku or the old danchi complexes in Nerima. Those are where the working class and pensioners actually live, and they're a 40 minute train ride from the Minato-ku mansions. The gap isn't as visible as LA or NYC because there's less street homelessness and the poor don't drive, they take the Chuo line at rush hour like everyone else.
As for the Crown taxis, those are the last of the real workhorses. The new Comfort hybrids are quieter but the back seat is worse, the Crown has that bench that feels like a couch. If you get a chance, take one across the Rainbow Bridge at night, it's the best 15 minutes of taxi you'll spend in the city.
honestly the car thing is a bit of a red herring for wealth. the real tell is where people send their kids to school. u'll see a kei truck parked next to a bentley in some neighborhoods, but the school run in minato is all chauffeur driven kids in private uniforms while the public schools in adachi are packed with families doing fine but not rich.
if u wanna see the gap without leaving the tourist zone, check the basement food halls at isetan or takashimaya vs the yokocho stalls under the train tracks. same city, one floor apart in price. a single melon can cost 15k yen there, and a bowl of ramen down the street is 800. that's tokyo in a nutshell.
also the "old" cars u see are prob kei trucks or the crown taxis. everything else gets exported or crushed cuz the shaken tax make keeping a 10 year old bmw stupid expensive. so the streets look rich but it's really just the system forcing everyone into new cars. the actual wealth gap is way more boring, it's about land ownership and inheritance, not what's parked on the curb.
the shaken thing is real but the wealth thing is more visible in housing tbh. walk around hiroo or azabu-juban and u'll see these ultra quiet streets where every house looks like a museum, then 10 min away in yoyogi there's tiny wooden apartments from the 70s that rent for like 90k yen a month for 25sqm. the cars r just the flashy tip, the real flex is having a garden in tokyo.
if u want a quick reality check, go to the tokyo metropolitan government building in shinjuku at night. free observatory, and u'll see the lights spread out, but look down at the area around the station and u'll spot the capsule hotels and the dudes sleeping in the underpass near shinjuku east gate. same city, literally minutes apart.
also the crown taxi thing, those r being phased out for toyota comfort hybrids now, so enjoy the old ones while u can. they're honestly more comfortable than most new cars.
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Where can I find crispy, pan-fried bacon similar to a certain international style?
if u have a costco membership the kirkland thick cut is the move, 4 packs of 500g for around 2500 yen and it crisps up proper in a cold pan. for smaller runs, precce in azabudai hills & the basement at isetan shinjuku both carry imported US & danish brands in the chilled case, just read the label for "thick cut" or "smoked" and not "loin". also worth knowing japanese bacon is often wet-cured so pat it dry before frying or it steams instead of crisping
kaldi coffee farm is hit or miss but their smoked bacon from denmark shows up pretty regular, the 200g pack runs about 600 yen. what actually works better for me is asking the butcher counter at peacock or life to slice the block bacon thick, like 5mm, they do it for free and it crisps way better than the pre-packed stuff. also fwiw cheap bacon crisps faster, the fatty supermarket kind at 300 yen a pack works fine if u cook it from cold in a dry pan and pour off the fat as it renders.
tbh the gyomu super store brand bacon is surprisingly decent for crisping up, its not thick cut but if you cook it low and slow it gets pretty crunchy. the key is the dry cure vs wet cure thing, wet cure steams. also check hanamasa if you have one nearby, they sell big packs of american style bacon thats actually smoked and firm.