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A friend once told me never to use Japan as an example for, well, anything, but rules are meant to be broken. Regarding cars in cities:

My abiding memory of walking through Osaka during the day was how...quiet and polite the city itself seemed to be, which seems a silly thing to say. It seems especially silly when I say this to people who know Japan, as Osakans have a reputation for being loud and expressive. It must be a mix of cars with small displacement engines that shut off at a stop, fewer cars in general, quiet buses and trains, and something about their urban design that led to this impression. Anyway, go to Osaka, it's great.

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