Japan Car Parking

At least he can actually get a parking space, and it looks like he's getting it for free too. Where I live in Manhattan, you have to pay $500 a month for a permanent parking space in a garage.

he need smaller car !!

A Smart Car would fit perfectly in there :D

amazing, now, no hail damage either :P

not like me, I scratched my aunt's car and thats the first accident since I'm new in driving world XD

Haha, nice. If there was a space like that around by me you'd have to fight bums to stake your claim on it.

This guy appears to be a potiential user for a Pivo2 (that is, if it even fits!)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MfYdas0OiTI <-- in case you don't know it

in some places its hard to find a car spot.. i applaud him for his creativness.. and if tehat storage area is his.. no parking fees or anything.. (just make sure no one else parks there!)

his parking skill level is OVER 9000 !

I'm so glad I don't have to deal with something like that. 5-point+ parallel parkings.

When I found this I just couldn't believe the guy had even bought a car that would fit there! XD

my question is why is the diver seat on the left side? I thought Japanese cars had the driver's seat on the right side?

It will be hard for me to get in this tiny space XD

Looking at the video it appears that his house has a large 2 car garage. Is this his spare car or does he use the garage for something else? He would fit in perfectly here in the NY area.

The problem is that it takes a bit of time to get in and out of the space, but since he's used to it, it goes pretty quick and smooth XD Also, great use of limited space!

My cell phone has a built in navigation system that is surprising well composed and works great!

This man is a parking genius! But to actually go out and buy a car that would fit, I don't know, might be going a bit far.

i remember watching a vid of (another japanese show) these guys parking in spaces with only 2mm of clearance each side - i think they were with Minis....or some sort of Kei car

Also, i hate Navi systems - They make you dumber and you start relying heavily on them. Yes they can be useful in those completely lost situations, but i never gotten lost before. That, and often a GPS can take you on a long route even if you know a shorter/faster one.

Hey...Danny-san...that looks like your car.

wow... thats fairly interesting... if hes driving stick, hes got pretty good control. That said, he did place some indicators like the stone blocks along the wall that tell him if he can't go back anymore. Could be simplified with just a Smart car though.

I wish I had something to park under so that my car didn't get covered with dirt and stuff from the trees.

Heheh, tis like the tiny car the very tall man gets out of in an episode of the Simpsons lol.

Those are some impressive parking skills though.

lucky when my parents bought the house here it comes with a garage

As one can expect, Japanese driver skills are really good. And as far as creativity in parking ideas, I'll have to say the Philippines is a close contention. :P People here find parking in some of the oddest places.

Using a navigational system is not that necessary in Hong Kong; I tend to have to be more wary of the road situation than where I am going - all those lane cutting, junctions, and ruthless taxis etc made by naive driving experience all roughed up.

Wow, a great parking skill, I can't park at such a small space like that >_< I'm glad USA has wide road and parking spaces.

Kobe-shi represent!! I can understand why he needs to do this. Kobe is built on the side of a mountain range which is on the waterfront. Land is already at a premium in Japan but even more so on a mountain/port city like Kobe.

Ugly colour for the car though...

I'm very accurate with judging front angle of the car, but weak at the back. I kinda hard this kind of parking, cause need to turn around the steering a lot.

Ohh glad I don't have to drive in Japan.. worst car-parker ever... I've never crashed on the road before but have bumped into many, many cars in the past 3 years. >.<;;

I honestly think thats why I would have a hard time living in japan. I'm pretty much a gear head, love my car and my van. Just couldn't see myself buying that small a car just to be able to park it. would bother me definately. I give props to this guy, but hope he's never tired or anything when he parks that thing.. or damage will ensue..

Worst I ever had was parrallel parking my van in columbus ohio, with just enough room for the van period.. lots of short inch or two, adjust, inch or two.. adjust.. took us about ten minutes to get my van in the spot between two cars. super tight.

Parking space in Japan = Gold

That's why some people took such lengths to maximize the space that they have

And I thought my parking space was cramped...if it were me I'd made a few dents on the wall and on the car...

Don't generally need a GPS nagication device here as I know all the streets. Google-maps is good enough if I have to go to places I don't know. My parents own one but they only use it when they travel outside the USA or to the East Coast where they don't know the streets and their way around.

Nice that he has pads and stuff just in case. Also the bricks in the back help a lot so he knows when to hit the breaks so he doesn't hit the wall.

impressive parking skills there. wonder how fast he can come out and drive from there.

I like how he puts pads on certain parts so it won't scratch his car.

I'm stingy about cars. I'd only use Sat Nav if it came with the car because it's well integrated into the interior's design. I don't like those 3rd party ones.

I don't have one, but I want to get one since it'd be a neat gadget to have. Though, I want to get one that'll be replacing my twin deck stereo, so it'll cost more than a normal stand-alone unit.

Right now if I don't know how to get somewhere, I just study the route up on Google Maps.

haha madness.
I just took my driver's test with all the parking junk..
>.>

I agree with JanaffStache--MADNESS.

Why did they play "Pictures at an Exhibition" when opening the video? Lol, very weird match.

Don't you have to prove you have a parking spot before being able to buy a car in Japan?

I guess they thought this counted as a proper parking spot? :P

Amazing parking skills! I guess if you live in a place where parking spaces are small and limited, you have no choice but to refine your skills, which explains why so many pro valet drivers come out of Japan.

The joke is he came home one night and found his neighbor parked in it. ;)

I can't drive in Asia. Either they're really crazy drivers with no attention to rules or too small and crowded.

Super-human parking skills do exist!!!111!!!

Wow that guy have some mad parking skills. One question, how did he get out?

In car navi are readily available in Los Angeles and in the US. However I used to be a former Paramedic Dispatcher in the Los Angeles area so I know the streets fairly well and am great at reading and remembering maps so I never relied on any sort of in car navigation system. That being said I do currently use my Blackberry and the Google Map program to check on the traffic condition of freeways before driving off though but don't use it for directions.

By the way for anyone using Blackberry or similar PDA phones I highly recommend Google Map. You can see Street View + Satellite view, get live traffic reports on freeways, plan routes, get directions and its all 100% free if you have unlimited download plan. Meanwhile, the AT&T software charges $10 a month. Wouldn't recommend it over a dedicated navi system and its not convenient to use while driving (please pull over to use your phones :P) but it really does help out in a pinch.

On the topic of bad parking, the worst area I've been in for parking so far has been San Francisco, probably changed to Seoul after my trip this summer hehe. Cars were parked right on the sidewalk and even diagonally on the corners of the intersection. Parking enforcement there must either have a field day giving out tickets or are extremely more lax then it is here in LA.

A lot of people here would have difficulty maneuvering their cars into such "parking" spots. How I wanted a Smart ForTwo simply due to size considerations.

As for car navigation systems, a brain and some logic beats electronics any day. Here in Toronto, the taxi drivers (including airport limo ones) are so reliant on the fancy GPS car navigation systems they TOTALLY forget to use their brains when customers tell them to go to places that their GPS-navs don't show a location for. Last year, I had to tell the limo driver actual driving instructions to get to my apartment and ignore his GPS-nav.

Considering how many people rely on these stuff to drive into ditches, over cliffs, and into narrow roads...

On the cell phone. was always a big driver that didn't like gps... got one and I am now dependent on it. Sprint Instinct ftw.

piece of cake for us who live in cities

I wish I had those parking skills. o.o

>Do you use a car navigational system?
Will probably get one soon.

that's some crazy parking skills

He must really know his surrounding well, but yeah that's scarily close. I'd be aggravated every time I park or try to leave out of that space.

I am using a GPS sometimes because I just started driving on my own and I don't know all the directions yet. The GPS isn't mine though ^^;

Wow, now that is a creative parking spot!

I used GPS one time just for the heck of it when I was driving with my cousin. For some reason it kept telling us to go some crazy longer route. >.>

i wonder if he has parking sensors installed otherways awamzing controll ^^

i dont use coz it is annoying and say like the built in ones in the BMW 3 series they cannot be turned off without taking a hammer to the dashboard.

LOL! Thats some extreme parking skills.

I don't use it and when my car does have one, I don't really bother about it as I trust my own sense and ability for my parking skill. LOL!

And I drive manual transmission. ^^;;

I am surprised they let him park in front of that gas meter

Amazing parking...at least that saved some cash for him....

He really has this parking space all marked out. I wonder how long it took him to find all the hazards. We have a Mitsubishi Colt in Japan and no scratches yet... *knock on wood* I have a hard time parking that darn thing when I drive it. ^^;

Yes, we have nav. systems in both our Colt and Milan. I use the nav. system more when I'm in Japan than I do here in the states. Then again the nav. systems in japan are much better than the systems here in the states.

Nice, but with power steering this maneuver is not that big of a deal. Imagine how would this guy's arms look like if he would do this everyday with a car without power steering!^^
Car navigation? I still use the good old paper maps. Just last month me and my boss went to the other side of the country, and the guy who welcomed us asked if we had a hard time getting there. When we said no, he asked if we used a car navigation system, and he was pretty surprised when we said hell no, we used a paper map and common sense.^^ People are just too depending on modern technology nowadays.

Would only be better if he did it this way ---> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=REpXf0cmJ64

In car nav system.... nope, won't have it. I just can't stand the voices and they're pretty innacurate once you leave the cities anyway (they're pretty innacurate in town as well, at least for the Australian maps and directions). I'll stick with my maps and UBD for now. Besides, if you use a map then by the end of the trip you get a map covered in scrawl as a momento of your journey :D

F U ALL JAPANEESE

And this year...CRASH!!!

The parking skill in Asia is amazing! Watch the "parking champion" show on flight last time, those parking space is so small, and people need to get out of the car at the back...Orz

I bet in Japan someone could park a Smart car under a park bench. Or at least they'd try really hard. ^^;

thats impressive. We use GPS all the time although it does have a tendency to take us down the smallest farmer roads, through the forest and down a mountain....its strange like that sometimes.

I'm really impressed at the amount of work that guy put in: all of that foam and the bricks to keep him from backing up too far or pulling forward too far. That said, a really mean prank would be to move his bricks.

I wonder how he gets that foam to stay up year round...

I guess this guy needs one of those Indian cars that cost less than 2500 dollars. And even with it, I guess it will not be difficult to park there anyway. XD

Answering Danny: I do not use any car navigation because I do not drive. But if I did, it is very likely that I would have one.

Cool car. Looks a bit like a smaller version of the old Renault 5 !

This is god-like, man! Nissan cars aren't that bad !

Driven by a 21st Century Hobbit!

Not that hard as it look. Live in LA and you'll master it in days.

Doesn't have to worry about theft now. :D

He's good on parking the car in a small and compact area. One of the skill that need to be master when I get my own driving license.

I love the fact he's got gloves on when he's demonstrating how he parks/gets out of the space. But the cushiony pad things seems like a really good idea.

to worry about scratching/wrecking the car everytime i park/leave the "parking lot", i think my heart would eventually give in some day -_-;