I can hardly believe that Japan's citizens put up with the requirement to have a "garage certificate" before buying a car. What an incredible intrusion on personal liberty! Holy cow, why isn't there protests and riots?
Your personal liberty to... own a car with no place to put it?
You have the liberty to own a car. It's met with the responsibility to have a place to put it when not in use. It is not the city's responsibility to provide you with one, and they don't want you leaving it on the street. That's pavement they would rather use for traffic flow.
If that means you cannot afford a car, then you use Japan's well-reputed public transport system.
i'm no fan of the dmv, but do you riot over having to register your car or getting a driver's license too? registration is equivalent, and a license is certainly more intrusive, with the biometric data they tend to collect.
