Number of automobiles registered. Of The MLIT's number of motor vehicles owned by prefecture, the sum of the number of ordinary motor vehicles and the number of light motor vehicles was calculated. A total of approximately 68,900,000 automobiles are owned in Japan which is about the same as the number of bicycles registered (approximately 69,100,000).

The number of automobiles registered per 100 population is greatest in Nagano, with 75, which is 75% of the population. Nagano is followed by Gunma, Yamanashi, Ibaraki and Tochigi, with prefectures in the northern Kanto region and Koshinetsu region ranked high.

The further away from metropolitan areas such as Tokyo and Osaka, the number of automobiles tend to be greater, and the number of automobiles owned in Nagano ranked first, is twice that of Tokyo ranked last. This is believed to be inversely proportional to the development of public transportation systems such as railways.

The number of automobiles owned is not that high in Hokkaido which is believed to be highly automobile-dependent.

According to the "Annual Report on Number of Automobiles Owned" announced by the Hokkaido Transport Bureau, the total number of automobiles registered in Hokkaido as of the end of March this year is 3,653,728, -0.9% compared to the same month last year, and fell below the previous year for three consecutive years. While nationally, the number of automobiles owned tends to remain on the same level, the number of automobiles owned is decreasing in Hokkaido. The Hokkaido Transport Bureau's Motor Vehicle Engineering and Safety Department states, "One factor is believed to be the pullback in automobile spending due to economic downturn, resulting in decrease in the distribution of secondhand cars."

The correlative ranking shows that it is negatively correlated with the average residential land price and the volume of railroad passenger transport. It can be said that there are fewer automobiles where the price of land is high and the railroad network is extensive.