Growing Oligopoly - Japan Taxi 寡占化する日本 ジャパンタクシー

Japanese follows English.　英語の後に日本語が続きます。

Taxis in Japan have been changing. They used to be generally sedans, but have been replaced by van taxis, so-called "Japan Taxis," manufactured by Toyota. The problem is that these van taxis, which look like taxis in London, have no space for snow chains, so if it heavily snows, these taxis are useless.

What troubles me most is that it's the government that decided to use these vans as taxis knowing they can't carry snow chains. It's also decided to give a grant of up to JPY600,000 (about USD6,000) for a replacement of a sedan taxi by a Japan Taxi. These vans may be more friendly to physically challenged people as long as the weather is fine, but what will happen if it snows, i.e., when the physically challenged most need taxi services?

I know what government officials are doing. They believe that forcing effectively every cab driver to use Japan Taxis, which look like London taxis, will make Japan a developed country at least during the period of the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games. They don't care about what would happen after that.

Who benefits? Toyota, the manufacturer of Japan Taxis winning this project; tire manufacturers which are now very busy producing as many studless snow tires as possible as quickly as possible for these taxis; and large taxi companies which can afford to dispose of sedan taxis before the expiration of their useful life and can control the taxi market after that. However, what will happen to small taxi cab companies or independent cab drivers who can't afford to replace their cars......?

Is this a capitalism we're heading toward or a state-led oligopoly? 

日本のタクシーがセダンからボックスカーに変わってるのをご存知ですか。ジャパンタクシーというそうです。ロンドンのタクシーを真似たらしいのですが、なんと、スノータイヤを格納するスペースがなく、今のままでは雪の日は走れないとのこと。

決めたのは日本政府。ボックスカーに切り替える場合は最大60万円の補助金が出るそうです。ボックスカーが障がいのある方にいいのは分かりますが、雪の日って障がい者の方が一番タクシーを必要とする時だと思うのですが、そこは考えなかったのでしょうか。東京オリンピックにロンドンタクシーに似たタクシーを走らせることしか考えていなかったのでしょうね。でもその後はどうするつもりなのかしら？タイヤメーカーは今、スタッドレスタイヤの受注増加に嬉しい悲鳴だそうです。

一番得するのは誰でしょう？ジャパンタクシープロジェクトを受注したトヨタ、タイヤメーカー、そして大手タクシー会社でしょうか。中小や個人タクシーは補助金をもらってもセダン型からボックスカーに換える余裕はないそうです。

これって政府主導の寡占のような気がするのですが、日本って資本主義じゃなかったでしたっけ？