It’s often said that Japan is about 20-30 years behind the US. Seriously, I tend to read this a lot in books about Japan, and it seems like I hear it from a student at least once a week. I don’t know if I would agree, but there are a few areas where this appears to be true.
Take gas stations. Pull in a gas station and it is like a blast to the past. At least two people run up and give full service. They fill your tank, they wash your windows, they might even check your oil and the air pressure of your tires. Not all gas stations provide this much service, but many of the ones I’ve personally seen do and I read that it is the norm here. To top it all off, when you finish paying, someone will run out and stop traffic for you so that you can easily pull out. Wow!!
Sadly, this appears to be changing. Self-service stations are becoming more and more common and one can easily see this following the same trend as the USA where in a few years full-service will be a thing of the past. It almost makes me want to rent a car here just so I can experience the full service before it disappears.
(video by Thejapanchannel via youtube)
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{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
I would think you would get great service because in Japan gas is what $6 a gallon (or $3 a liter?)???
Really interesting post. Ultimately all that additional service has got to add to the cost of the gas but I guess the Japanese customers value it.
Right now it’s about a buck a liter, if memory serves, maybe 120/130. Well, make that about 1.50 due to the exchange rate right now. So yeah, a gallon would hover around 5 and a half bucks or so. Self-serve stations aren’t much cheaper here (as far as I’ve seen… but as I mentioned above, I don’t see much of them), so maybe the big price difference is more due to US gov subsidizing. Also, as I understand it, oil is taxed more heavily in most countries outside of the US, especially Europe (explaining the very high gas prices there).