My Toy Car

I received a question from students at my cousins school in Georgia (USA)! They are interested in my car. So here it is.                                                                                                             This is my car! 

It's very typical for Japan and especially for native English teachers.

It measures 127 inches long, 55 inches high, and 51 inches wide. 

Needless to say, it is tiny. I have the ability to sit in the front seat

and reach things in the trunk. I have fit 7 people in this car once. 

I do not recommend it and in fact, it is illegal in Japan to have

more than 4 people in my car because it is a yellow license plate

car. See the license plate is yellow. That means it has a small

engine. It is beneficial to to have a yellow plate in Japan where

toll roads can be costly. Yellow plate cars pay less. If you don't 

have a yellow plate car, then you have a white plate car. You pay 

more taxes and tolls, but you have a bigger engine and a more 

spacious car. 

Not all cars are this small in Japan, most are a bit bigger to full size Toyota Camrys and so on. The roads can get pretty small in Japan though, and these little toy cars are great for that. It is not uncommon for me to approach another car going in the opposite direction, on a small road and we both must slow down to a turtle crawl and inch past each other until we have safely passed. If you get good enough, you don't slow down and just learn to say a small prayer. On top of this, almost all roads in Japan have small ditches, about a tire's width, on either side of the road for water drainage. Rarely is there a grate or cover over them. Soooo if you scoot to far off the side of the road trying to avoid a car passing, you could find yourself lifting your car out of a ditch. Another perk to having the little cars. 

I once asked why the roads were so small here. The answer: "In Japan we only used horses for travel before cars. So the roads were narrow. When cars came, we paved over the same roads and did not widen them." Here is a great example of a residential road. It is a 2 way road. How would you pass an oncoming car? The light pole in the street makes it that much more fun. 

The great thing about cars in Japan is the price. CHEAP! A new yellow plate car may only run you about $10'000 - $14'000. I paid $2'000 for my car and it had low miles, great condition, and fairly new. Plus a set of winter tires, a must in Japan, was included. Gasoline is higher priced that in the USA, I currently am paying $4.35 a gallon of gas. And that is a great price right now!!!! My car holds about 6.5 gallons and that will last me about 1 to 1.5 weeks. 

So that is the low down on Japanese cars. Any questions, just ask!