Considering that the monthly rent for a strip of asphalt to park a car can cost as much as an entire apartment in other places, it's not surprising that car-sharing services are making inroads as a more affordable, more eco-friendly alternative to owning a car. As the number of services grows, companies are competing to differentiate themselves by going online and mobile — one has an app that can find a shareable car and pop its locks.

Car-sharing memberships are increasingly being offered by condominiums, car rental companies (Orix) and  parking lot companies (Park24).  Orix is the largest with about 6,500 members. Drivers pay a monthly fee of around ¥3,000 or ¥4,000 and then usage fees of a few hundred yen for driving increments as short as 15 minutes.

There are over 20 car-sharing companies in Japan now — and about half of them started up just last year, according to Japanese site car-share.net. Companies and government programs have been experimenting with the idea in Japan since as early as 1999. Mazda car rental, which was recently taken over by Park24, started one of the first widespread sharing programs in 2006, followed by Orix the next year.