Anecdotally, ~every American person who I know in Tokyo considered walking more than 5 minutes a chore when they first arrived, and then most eventually learned

Anecdotally, ~every American person who I know in Tokyo considered walking more than 5 minutes a chore when they first arrived, and then most eventually learned that gasp you can actually walk for longer than that and it is perfectly fine. It's honestly quite amusing just how disconnected the average American's conception of city travel is from how things work in Tokyo and other walkable / public transport-focused cities. Europeans have it easier; I was already used to using public transport to get around even long-ish distances on a daily basis in Spain, and Tokyo is basically public transport paradise. Want to go from point A to point B? Here's 5 different routes - you get to pick bus, train, metro, or a combination. Some are faster, some are nicer, some you might just personally like better, and they all arrive on time. Every 5 minutes or so. I still resort to taxis in Tokyo sometimes, but only when I'm in a rush (= already late to something), and even then that rarely saves more than 10 minutes, and if traffic is bad, can end up worse; it's only faster when there isn't already a fully direct train route wherever you're going. I consider it a tax on bad scheduling on my part; I'd much rather take public transport and not be in a rush.