50.6% of households in Japan now own a small, frugal kei car

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For the first time since 1986, more than 50 percent of households in Japan own at least one kei-category vehicle. The Japan Mini Vehicles Association (JMVA) began tracking the mini vehicles back in 1986, and this is the highest level of ownership ever.

Despite the belief that kei vehicles are nothing more than urban runabouts, the figures show that rural residents of Japan are in love with these mini vehicles. Thus, the 50.6 percent figure is, according to Integrity Exports, slightly misleadingly because it includes work vehicles, and out in rural farming and fishing areas of Japan, kei trucks and vans are common. Tottori Prefecture, for example, is the least populous prefecture in all of Japan and 98 out of 100 households own a mini vehicle there. On the flip side, only 11 out of 100 households in Tokyo report owning at least one kei vehicle. What's the logical explanation for that? Is there one?