Car Culture in Japan

It doesn’t take much knowledge about Japan or about cars to guess that the car culture in Japan would be much different, but even expecting these differences it can still be somewhat surprising to see what they actually are.

Staying in Kumamoto City, a ruralish city in Western Japan on the island of Kyushu, I would like to share a few interesting trends I have noticed (wondering if they ever could or should go to North America):

• Station wagons: In Japan, a lot of new cars being sold are station wagons. Tons of them, in fact. Back in the U.S. I wondered why Toyota was doing something as foolish as bringing the Venza to the North American market when nobody liked station wagons anymore. Clearly the wagon has experienced a resurgence here, and it seems to be Honda leading the way. Perhaps Toyota is trying to head off its rival in the North American market.
• Stick shifts: Yesterday, I caught a ride with someone to take me to the local library since I couldn’t find it and she was driving there already, so she figured she’d show me. Her car was one of Japan’s ubiquitous and boxy little things, which has plenty of room to toss my bike in without any disassembly despite having a smaller footprint than a new Honda Civic, was a stick shift. In Japan you can get even minivans and family runabouts in the stick shift variety.
• Magazines: Just browse the magazine aisle of your local Japanese bookstore. You’ll find all sorts of goodies. Recently, in fact, I saw an entire shelf dedicated to publications on Toyota’s Prius. Ever wondered how to drive a third gen Prius most efficiently? There’s a magazine for that! For the new Insight, too.
• Insight II: Speaking of the Insight, April’s #1 seller in Japan, I have already seen quite a few running around during my cross country cycling trips. Americans may think it looks too much like the Prius, but around here it actually stands out from the pack reasonably. Especially when looking at the prices of Honda’s lineup in Japan.

Those are just a few examples. Hopefully, I will be able to do more than scratch the surface on the car culture here, and I may even be able to bring you a few pages of one of those fancy Prius driving guides! Let me know if there’s anything particular to the Japanese market you want me to check out.

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