Parking In Japan
Here is a car parked on the street next to a "Parking Meter" These meters are found mostly near or in the downtown areas throught the cities of Japan.
This is the parking meter. Street Parking infront of a meter is only allowed up to One hour. One hour will cost 300Yen. This Meter is one smart unit. Once you park infront of it you have only one minite to pay the 300Yen, after that the coin slot will close and the timer will start counting. The coin slot won't re-open until you move the vehicle out of the space. Also, you can't just return in one hour and put another 300Yen in! You must move the vehicle out. As you can see from the picture, the vehicle infront of this meter has been illegally parked for 78minites.
Small automated pay parking lots are all over Japan. Here is a small 3 space parking lot located in downtown Tokyo.
Once you pull into a space at the Automated Parking Lots, a ramp will raise and won't lower until the Meter is payed. Rates vary, but the average in Tokyo is about 600yen an hour!
Just enter the parking space number, pay the amount the meter says and the ramp will lower allowing you to leave.
This is a typical Automated parking lot. You pull your car into the platform, get out and the car will be loaded into a conveyer belt parking slot. Then when you pick your vehicle up, you back out into the center of the circle that you can see on the ground. That cirlce is a turntable that will turn your vehicle around allowing you to just drive away without the hassle of backing out onto the street.
This is a automated paking conveyer system. This parking lot is for monthly rental. Many apartment buildings have this style of parking lot. Just put in your code and your vehicle will be brought down.
