| A Briton In Japan | ||
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by Claire Lumb (07 Feb 05) Let's start with the not-so-surprising. I'm sure you won't splurt out your coffees when I write that Japanese people are inordinately proud of their (mainly home-grown) cars. Almost everyone I know has a gleaming, pristine motor which they treat with pride and care. It is incredibly rare to see a rust bucket on the road, so much so that when I noticed one last week, struggling up an icy hill, a crowd had gathered to stare. The interiors of the cars are a wonder to behold. Some of them have more room than my apartment, with up to eight seats, TVs, navigation systems, state-of-the-art stereos. In a land that embraces the tiny (computers, cameras, dogs), in terms of cars, the monster truck is king. It seems ridiculous in a place so built up that SUV are extremely popular. For women, the reason to buy supersize is no doubt to store their vast collection of Hello Kitty soft toys. As for men, it could be any number of reasons, from impressing girlfriends to being able to take their friends on an annual skiing trip. Who can tell? It also won't be too shocking to hear that cars are an expensive business in Japan. Not only do you have to buy it, tax it, insure it and pay for a parking spot, there is also something called the shaken, a bi-annual equivalent of our MOT. Merely driving the car into the garage costs £500, and that's before the mechanic starts charging for all the repairs you weren't aware you needed. There is a rumour that the government maintains the high price of these shakens so that when it comes round to getting one people will say, "What the heck, let's just buy a new car," and therefore boost the motor industry. As such, secondhand cars can be fairly cheap, and are often given away to needy friends in order to avoid the shaken charge. In addition to this, if your car is a write-off, you have to pay a substantial sum for it be hauled away. This results in a large number of vehicles being dumped in the countryside sans licence plate and is also, supposedly, one of the reasons why the World Heritage Organisation wouldn't include the awe-inspiring Mount Fuji as a Heritage Site: because of all the abandoned cars at the bottom. Now for all that, it is probably quite surprising when I tell you that as a rule that the Japanese are renowned as terrible drivers. Perhaps I am just bitter about the time that a motorist pulled out from her driveway without looking while I was cycling past, and sent me flying over her bonnet and into the dentist's to get a new front tooth, but take this piece of very scientific research (me peering into cars) as further proof. I noticed drivers using cellphones, smoking, eating and even shaving, applying lipstick (not at the same time, I might add), or reading newspapers. For these people, their car is truly a home from home and I can understand the need to do morning chores in traffic jams, but the one habit I cannot abide is when parents let children use the car as a playground. It is not unusual to see a kid clambering over the seats, or, even worse, sitting on the lap of the driver. My friend Keiko, when coming home from the hospital after giving birth, was told by the midwife that child seats weren't safe and it was best to hold the baby in her arms while in the car. I used to wonder how young Japanese could afford luxury cars until I asked them about their living situations. Most of them live with their parents to save on their expenses even into their 30s or in substandard accommodation. There's a saying, "Bad suit, bad house, great car", and this may be a reason why motor vehicles are treated like mini-palaces with the driver ensconced in their own private world. While this is all well and good, it makes grim reading for the cyclist and pedestrian who must battle the narrow, pavement-less streets faced with the oblivious drivers of these four-wheeled beauties. And, as a final note, this is for the woman who knocked me off my bike and never stopped to see if I was OK; I know where you live - I'm coming to get you.
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