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We are approaching what could be a landmark election in Japan on August 30th. The ruling LDP are fighting for their political lives and the DJP are hot on their heels, appropriating slogans such as, “Yes, we can!” to encourage the perception of change. Some things never seem to change in the Japanese electoral process,… Continue reading Election Vehicles in Japan

Not the most beautiful car in the world, the Toyota Century. In fact, it would not looked out of place parked in front of the Kremlin in the bad old days of the Cold War. Its one redeeming feature is that, as far as I know, it is the only Japanese production car with a… Continue reading Executive Meets Zil

Japanese kei (literally “light”, which is from the full name keijidousha, or “light vehicles”) vehicles first came into being 20 years ago. They are a separate class of vehicles in Japan, under regular cars, which are called futsusha (literally “regular cars”, surprisingly). They are built within certain size and CC limitations to qualify for this class. In addition to the… Continue reading Kei Cars Hit 60th Birthday

Japan may be renowned for its world-leading car manufacturers like Toyota and Honda, but in recent years car ownership has been dipping slightly. It first rose above 0.5 cars per household (in other words, 1 for every two households) in 1976, and then breached the 1-per-household mark twenty years later in 1996. Since last year,… Continue reading Car Ownership Falling in Japan

The Honda Insight stole a march (not a March) on the latest Toyota Prius when it arrived in Japan in early 2009. I remember seeing a TV news report here at the time implying that the Insight was not only selling better than Honda’s expectations but that, in fact, it was pretty much the only Honda… Continue reading Insight or Prius …. or Leaf?