[maxgashkov]

> almost all employers will pay for employees to commute by public transport but not by car, because the government heavily incentivises them to do so

Could you clarify this? To my knowledge only 2 things that could qualify as incentive exist:

- commuting allowances are not considered taxable income for employee

- commuting allowance could be used to reduce tax base for the business

But this is not something I'd call 'heavily'.

My understanding is that commute is universally covered as this is an expected job benefit in Japan, and commuting by car is disencouraged in cities due to the increased insurance liability (as commuting time could be considered work time and injuries incurred to 3rd party will expose the company to liability as well).

[lmm]

> To my knowledge only 2 things that could qualify as incentive exist:

> - commuting allowances are not considered taxable income for employee

> - commuting allowance could be used to reduce tax base for the business

> But this is not something I'd call 'heavily'.

They do both those things, so commute costs are a free tax discount. But they also just tell companies directly that they want them to act in a certain way, and the companies generally fall into line. While the zaibatsu have nominally disappeared, there are still very close ties between the politicians and big businesses in Japan.