Price of Gasoline in Japan

by

Today when driving around my local area (in Oregon, USA), I saw a gas station that was selling gas for $2.99 a gallon. It’s been a while since I’ve seen it under $3, which is great in some resepcts, but not so great in others (I’m not going to get into politics right now).

Then, when I got home, I found an article on Treehugger that talked about a website which shows the price of gas all around the world. I was surprised to see that Japan wasn’t one of the most expensive places in the world (though don’t get me wrong, it’s pretty darn expensive!). There were places that cost almost $10 a gallon. Can you imagine that? I can’t.

So as you can see there, as of July 2008, gas in japan was around $6.44 a gallon (though I’m guessing it went down a bit, if trends are the same here as they are there). Another thing to note is that Japan is the world’s second largest importer of gas, which probably also adds to some of the price (not to mentiont they’re an island, so everything’s a bit more expensive).

So, next time you try to complain about gasoline, just think about Japan, and how much they have to pay (unless you live somewhere like Norway, Finland, or the Gaza Strip). Gaza Strip hits $25+ a gallon. Insane, yeah? I think you’ll find in Japan that there’s a good enough train system to get you almost anywhere you want. Thank goodness they built this up before the oil prices went up. If only America thought of this on a more national scale twenty years ago :(

Want to see more gas prices? Click here.

  • http://caitlinomara.com Caitlin

    I remember when I could fill up my 93 Chevy Cavalier weekly and still have enough money left over to buy a paperback book every 2 weeks. Unfortunately, gas and books have gone up since. :( In Japan, I have no idea what I pay for gas. None of the stations here post prices and I think if I actually knew, I'd be wincing more. Food prices are getting downright weird.

  • http://www.vietamins.com Viet

    Are costs for mass transportation in Japan going up? Gas prices affect almost everything, so I'm assuming it'll eventually trickle down to the ticket prices…

  • moshi_moshi

    I think the humor's died a bit here, but thanks for the post! =]

  • http://relaxedfocus.blogspot.com Rob

    Paid 156/L the other day, which is about $5.80/gallon…

    To Viet, no, haven't seen train or bus price jumps, fwiw.

  • Chris_paros

    WOW, this is insane! Europe has the highest average price of any continent?! That's odd, seeing as we're right next to (relatively speaking) Saudi Arabia and all the major oil exporting nations… :s I'm a bit perplexed as to how America can get such low prices… No offence btw, it just doesn't make any logical sense…

  • kolarek

    I think it's more important how the gas prices compare to the GDP per capita of a nation, than the actual gas price itself. For example, Norway has a GDPPC of $53,000, and has $9,95 per gallon, while Finland has a GDPC of about $35,000 and has $9,27 per gallon, which means that Norway is still better of. There are probably more radical examples (e.g. Japan and China) but i hope you get what I mean.

  • Mrwindupbird

    hmm interesting article. Got gas for $2.83 the other day. Kind of savoring it at the moment.

  • adora

    I grew up in Hong Kong and my dad had some really gas hogging cars. Ten years ago, it cost about USD $100-$140 to fill his cars. I was pleasantly surprised that it only cost $20 to fill my BMW in Miami. It is always about 4-5 times worse in Hong Kong. I suppose that's the red dot south of China on the map.

    I lived in Italy and France for a while. They have high gas price too. There is a rumor that many small gas station add sand and fillers to the gas. It is why compact family cars there aren't durable. They are quite shocked that Americans can drive their Toyota for over a decade without major problems.

  • insomniacgamer

    gas is $2.38 a gallon here in southeast Georgia… i keep being shocked every time i see it go down even more ^_^

  • Syaoran

    I live in Sweden ;___; pity me

  • http://www.tofugu.com koichi

    hmmm, I don't (usually) go for humor, but sorry about that :)

  • QuinsY

    I Pity the fool who spends 8 bucks 69 on a gallon (mr. T   impression, that is not so good..   ('_ _) )

  • mr.x

    I took a video of the mini trip to the eneos gas station I took with my cousin.
    damn, it cost alot!

  • anonym

    haha – I live in Norway, so we have to pay 9.95 dollar X'D
    Always so funny too hear you Americans complain about the gas. No kidding …

  • emiko

    well, don't people in japan have a lot of other resources like the transit, feet, and bikes . . . i think that goes the same for americans and everyone else . . . if we boycot the gas, then they prices are bound to go down . . . and it might do americans some good

  • Judge Bob

    I miss the panda hat. Koichi should do another video with it on.

  • http://www.iknow.co.jp insomniacgamer

    gas is dropping again here in GA $2.28 a gallon.. i can't believe it… i might sell my motorcycle because i don't need any gas saving vehicles as much as i did before haha

  • http://x-aichaku.blogspot.com Mai

    $2.86 in VA :D~ Yayness. Now if only I felt like driving .5 hours to go get it.

    I wish we were small and compact so that I could take metro/bus everywhere D:

  • Karl

    Yurop has high gas prices due to high energy taxes, you fools. Here in Sweden it's about 200%, and apparently we're not the worst.

  • http://spacejay4000.livejournal.com/profile spacejay4000

    im totally with you on the inefficiencies of american public transportation and if we had planned the location of cities better as well. right now in the twin cities, mn, they are trying to extend theh lightrail (a mini-version of train and only travels on one line between minneapolis and st. paul) to get the 'burbs in and out of the cities. this sounds great cuz traffic will go down and there'll be better parking as well…but apparently this is going to make gas more expensive for some reason (if anyone knows why, please let me know cuz it doesnt make sense to me). anywho, i think that a better mass transportation system would be the betterment of everyone. and who really wants cars and planes as your transportation?? not me.

  • Finrandojin

    That's true! I happen to be Finnish, and the energy/enviroment tax here in Finland is very high. The price is about 1,2E – 1,3E (1,5-1,65$) per litre (1 gallon is 4,4 litres). …so…one gallon would be about 5,3 $ – 6,6 $. And those prices have been on the news now, because they are the lowest we have had for a loooong time!

    Plus we have to pay environment tax for each car we have..each year. If the car is bigger (or old = produces a lot of toxins) you pay more. It's just such a shame that only Scandinavian people are doing this…we can't save the world alone.

  • Finrandojin

    That's true! I happen to be Finnish, and the energy/enviroment tax here in Finland is very high. The price is about 1,2E – 1,3E (1,5-1,65$) per litre (1 gallon is 4,4 litres). …so…one gallon would be about 5,3 $ – 6,6 $. And those prices have been on the news now, because they are the lowest we have had for a loooong time!

    Plus we have to pay environment tax for each car we have..each year. If the car is bigger (or old = produces a lot of toxins) you pay more. It's just such a shame that only Scandinavian people are doing this…we can't save the world alone.

  • http://www.handbags-club.com/ Designer handbags

    hmm interesting article. Got gas for $2.83 the other day. Kind of savoring it at the moment.

  • http://www.handbags-club.com/ TwoBlue

    I think the humor's died a bit here

  • http://www.handbags-club.com/ Designer handbags

    hmm interesting article. Got gas for $2.83 the other day. Kind of savoring it at the moment.

  • http://www.handbags-club.com/ TwoBlue

    I think the humor's died a bit here