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I understand that で is used when referring to the place where an action is
taking place. But what about the following sentence?

> 日本で車が速い。

Since there's no action taking place I would have expected to write 日本に rather
than 日本で. But the example I saw used で.

Can somebody please tell me which way is correct and maybe explain why?
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2015-01-28T11:47:15.017
21495
2015-01-28T15:33:06.557
2015-01-28T15:33:06.557
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question
particles adjectives particle-で
Use of で for location with an adjective
Japanese **adjectives** (形容詞) form independent predicates, that means, they
grammatically act as verbs (速い means " ** _be_** fast"). Again, all verbs
except for ones referring to "staying" (e.g. ある, いる, 住む, 泊まる etc.) mark their
locations by `で`. The same thing applies to all word classes (with the help of
copula `だ`):

> Verb: 日本 **で** 走る _run in Japan_  
>  Adjective: 日本 **で** 安い _be inexpensive in Japan_  
>  Adjective noun: 日本 **で** 有名だ _be famous in Japan_  
>  Noun: 日本 **で** 英雄だ _be a hero in Japan_

As an aside, your

> 日本で車が速い。

doesn't sound natural as a complete sentence, unless you're reporting what
happens in front of your eyes (journalists favor it for articles, though). If
you simply want to say that "cars are fast in Japan", you'd topicalize one
element:

> 日本で **は** 車が速い。 _Cars run fast in Japan (neutral / compared to other
> countries)._  
>  日本で車 **は** 速い。 _Cars run fast in Japan (compared to other
> transportations)._
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2015-01-28T14:31:30.930
21496
2015-01-28T15:31:42.027
2015-01-28T15:31:42.027
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answer
First of all, 「日本で車が速い。」 seems unnatural to me.  
I would use the topic marker and say 「日本では車が速い。」  
  
In Japanese an adjective can be thought of as a verb, as in Klingon.  
Think of it as action of "being fast".
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2015-01-28T14:41:10.333
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2015-01-28T14:41:10.333
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answer