Aimee Weinstein, Tokyo Writer

This is a photo courtesy of Marc Weinstein, my husband.  Every day on his way to work he passes parking lots, but this particular one gives him pause.

This is it – the whole parking lot.  The entire lot is made up of one parking space.  Japanese efficiency at its best – no tiny bit of space goes unused.

Oh there are other motives – I read recently that if a landowner puts a parking lot on his land for a long enough time before building on it, then he gets some type of tax break.  It is amazing how quickly a parking lot can appear on a slab of land on which a building has just be torn down; and equally amazing how after about 6 or 8 months, the parking lot disappears to make room for a new structure.   I am unclear on the tax code for this, but judging by the number of temporary parking lots I see, I believe it.

So perhaps this particular one-off lot will only last a short time, but it is amusing while it lasts!