Aren't Japanese cities often talked about as an example of good public transport (particularly trains) and reasonably dense areas with low housing prices?

True, although Japan is so different from the West culturally that I'm not sure you can make realistic comparisons.

Counties with significant domestic car industries:

* USA * Japan

Countries out of the first list, with policies favouring cars:

1/2

Conclusion:

Insufficient data.

German public transportation is also excellent and if they aren’t considered to have a significant domestic car industry, I’m not sure who else does qualify.

France too.

If you add in Germany, I think you get 1.5/3

2/3, no way policies in Germany don't favour cars.

German policies don't advantage private car use over public transit use to anywhere near the degree US policies do. To give some examples, a few of which the article mentions or alludes to:

* In many US cities, businesses are required by law to have certain amounts of parking for employees and customers. This makes car use more convenient and takes up space, making walking less viable.

* German taxes on gasoline and diesel are over 100%.

* Most areas of larger German cities are zoned for high-density housing; it's typical for street-level businesses to have several floors of apartments above them.

* You mean like https://www.muenchen.de/rathaus/Stadtrecht/vorschrift/926.ht..., which requires one parking space per apartment (residential use) and also one parking space per 20 to 80 m² for businesses?

* They may be high but motorists still pay less in taxes than the general public contributes to the upkeep of their infrastructure, even when excluding externalised costs (healthcare, climate change accommodation etc).

* The same is true for e.g. New York, whereas (e.g.) London has a fair amount of low-density housing. Not quite sure how this is an argument if the vast majority of space in cities is still reserved for cars (either parking or driving).

  the one thing they have in common is no substantial domestic car industry

Another thing they have in common is that they were occupied by a country with a substantial motor vehicle industry, and then later liberated by another country with a substantial motor vehicle industry.

I’d be pretty happy to follow Germany’s guidance on public transportation.