I understand and would generally agree with this point.
I'd also point out that outside the cities/areas where that is the case (where a car could be more expensive), owning/running a car is not very expensive.
Wife and I are both retired, and we still have our own cars--both older (the cars, that is...). One cost that has always seemed cheap is insurance. We each pay a bit over ¥40k/yr, I think my current contract, good for three years, is ¥42k and change. No, that doesn't include "collision" (so repair cost for our own cars is out-of-pocket in case of an accident), but at least comparing to the US costs I've heard (my sibs), that's a deal--well over $1000/yr is 'normal' there. ((And I get 'hit' with a higher price, since I'm now over 70. Previously, it was about ¥5000/yr cheaper.))
Another aspect is the cost of gas. Tho expensive, and perhaps shockingly so on comparative charts and graphs, even when working/commuting I never got close the the average mileage driven by someone in the US. It costs more on paper, but it still costs less in practice. And even in our situation of having two cars, any trip to the big cities will be on a train. No big holiday weekend driving trips, and there isn't what the US calls "the summer driving season", where summer plans might be affected by varying pump prices.
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