The Narrowness of Japanese Parking Spaces

The phrase “Japanese home parking spaces are narrow in width and low in height” is something you hear all the time. For detached houses, you might have some room to spare, but many mechanical parking garages in condominiums have widths of 1900mm or even less, sometimes down to 1850mm, and heights limited to 1550mm.

Just recently, someone left a message on my blog saying this:

I think the latest 992 Porsche is the best, but my condominium’s parking pallet is 1850mm wide, so I’m forced to look only for a Carrera or Carrera S up to the 991 model.

I see… In reality, the size of your home parking space often naturally limits the cars you can choose.

My Husband’s Parking Space Obsession

About five years ago, when we moved from our previous home, we struggled with this parking space issue. At that time, we had a Mercedes-Benz SLK and an Audi A3. The Mercedes-Benz SLK350 is 1810mm wide, and the Audi A3 is 1765mm wide—neither very large nor tall cars—so I thought we could park them anywhere, even in a condominium, and didn’t worry about it.

But my husband was different.

He stubbornly said, “We will never move to a place that can’t fit a big car like a Panamera someday.” (Even though he had no plans to buy one at the time, lol)

So even though we seriously started house hunting together, after about six months, we still hadn’t found a property that met our criteria for rent, size, and layout.

My husband has always prioritized parking when choosing a home since he was single: “1st is parking, 2nd is parking, 3rd and 4th don’t matter, and 5th is parking”. In fact, the house he lived in as a single man was a strange layout: “a spacious 1LDK with a great parking space but the kitchen shoved into a corner.”

Before that, he lived in a place where “the parking space was covered with a remote-controlled shutter, but the room was a moldy, sunless studio with a tiny kitchen and a unit bath.”

How extreme… (laughs)

Even after we married, the deciding factor for our new place was the parking. (One parking spot with a roof, concrete flat surface, and the option to rent multiple spots) When we talked about moving again about five years ago,

Parking is everything. It all depends on parking. No open-air spots. I want at least two spaces. I want room to store tires. No matter how good the rent or layout is, parking is everything! Because if parking restrictions limit the cars I want to buy in the future, I’d go crazy!

he kept insisting.

As expected, such properties were hard to find. The one we thought was “found!” was taken by someone else just before we went to see it. I often got frustrated and said,

We don’t even have big cars now, so if you keep saying that, we’ll never find a place we want and never move!

but my husband stood firm. (Looking back, I’m grateful for his persistence)

Then, when we were about ready to give up, we happened to find information online about our current home with two covered parking spaces. We contacted them immediately and went to see it. We both loved the house’s atmosphere and layout, and as for the parking, “it’s not 100% what my husband wanted, but it’s acceptable,” so we decided to rent it. (Though my husband still seems not fully satisfied with the parking)

About six months later, we bought the Panamera, and thinking back, if we had compromised on parking back then, we probably wouldn’t have bought the Panamera or enjoyed our current car life. So I believe my husband’s judgment was right.

Even now, when my husband sees flyers for new condominiums in the mailbox, he immediately checks the tiny print about parking at the bottom and mutters things like, “Oh, this is a great condo! Parking installation rate is… 100%, gone!” or “The underground parking is mechanical, and flat parking is outside… ” about condos he won’t even buy.

I keep telling him, look at the layout! lol

The Importance of Parking in Car Life

My husband often talks about Japan’s narrow parking problem:

Japanese parking spaces, especially mechanical ones, are really tight. I always think, if parking pallet widths are going to be 1850mm or 1900mm, they might as well make them about 2000mm. I’m lucky because I’ve always searched for homes with cars in mind, but when I see friends who love cars reluctantly giving up on their dream cars because of width or height restrictions, it makes me sad like it’s my own problem.

I totally agree.

Thanks to my husband’s extraordinary passion and obsession for parking, we don’t have these problems at home, but I really wish something could be done about Japan’s parking spaces.