The different types of paid parking lots

Today, and January 26th annually, is Paid Parking Lot Day / Parking Meter Day 有料駐車場の日・パーキングメーターの日. Yes, Japan really does have an anniversary for almost everything! Including the most random of things, like Paid Parking Lot Day! However, it is in commemoration of the installation of Japan's first ever parking meter.

On this day in 1959, the nation's first roadside parking zones were created in Hibiya and Marunouchi. They placed 1,283 parking meters along the streets. The very first went in front of the former Tokyo Metropolitan Government building in Yurakucho, now the site of Tokyo International Forum. At the time, parking cost 10 yen for 15 minutes. The parking meter itself had been invented in 1935 in Oklahoma City and spread worldwide. It evolved from coin‑operated devices to ticket‑issuing machines and today’s electronic payment systems.

In Japanese a paid parking lot is called a 有料駐車場 (yūryō chūshajō). However, it is a broad category and it includes such things as:

• Coin parking
• Pay-at-gate parking
• Pay-by-app parking (on the increase)
• Monthly contract parking
• Event parking
• Underground or multistory paid lots

Where at all possible, I try to use free parking lots. I have noticed the number of those are going down in recent years. Moreover, the cost of parking is going up. Because I live in a tourist area, paid parking usually costs 200 yen for half an hour. There are some that charge 300 yen per half hour. However, by and large, Japan's paid parking is capped with a maximum charge per day. Sometimes as little as 500 yen, but often 1000 yen or 2000 yen, depending on how busy the area is. When I am using paid parking, I try to get a coin parking lot. How about you? What type of paid parking do you use most?