Cars, Cars, Cars

When we go driving in Japan, I need something to take my mind off the road--the teeny, tiny narrow road with teeny, tiny space on each side of the lane. It's major nerve wracking!!  Sister Baird came up with a list of some of the funny names of cars she sees, and that gave me an idea.  I had been thinking that there seemed to be an endless array of kinds of cars. Why not write them all down.  Most of them are different from the cars I've seen in the States, but of course, not all of them.

The Toyota car is our principle vehicle, but we drive a
Toyota van when we need to haul things around.

Keep in mind that vehicles in Japan that are more than three years old have to pass an inspection every two years.  It costs about $220 for small cars, and the price goes up as the size of the engine increases.  Once a car gets to the point where it is unlikely to pass inspection, it's cheaper to pay someone to pick up the car and scrap it.  Therefore, nearly every car we have seen in Japan looks relatively new. 

Some of these cars look more like oversized matchbox cars.  They aren't sold in the US.  Their engines are less than 660 cc's.  They have a different license plate color and their tires are itty-bitty.  They are a perfect fit for the roads here.

Don't ask me which one this is, but it's one of the small engine cars.  

We live within a 20-minute drive of Toyota City, so you can guess which brand of car we see most often.  But I never dreamed there would be so many models.  I'm sure I haven't written down every car model out there, but in just three weeks of occasionally driving and writing down names, I have found 53 models of Toyota cars--nearly all of them 9 years old or newer.


So here's my unofficial, unscientific survey list.  A few cars look the same here as they do in the US, except for the side the steering wheel is on.  Occasionally we see a genuine US car, complete with steering wheel on the left.  But most cars, even with the same name as in the US, look completely different.  It's been kind of interesting.

Make         Model             Comment

Chevy        Corvette          (Steering wheel on the left.)

Chrysler     Classic  

  

Citroen                             (British)

Daihatsu    Cocoa                

Diahatsu    Bego              

Diahatsu    Conte
Diahatsu    Copen 
Diahatsu   Mira             

Diahatsu    Move             

Diahatsu    Naked             (It doesn't look any more naked to me than the other cars.)

Ford          Explorer          (Didn't get a chance to see which side the steering wheel was on.)

          

Honda        Capa              

Honda        Edix               

Honda        Element         (Nothing like the car by the same name in US.  A small station wagon.)
Honda        Fit                  (We see this car a lot, Jesselah.)
Honda        Freed
Honda        Insight
Honda        Life

Honda        Spark             

Honda        Stream 

          

Jaguar                             (FYI:  Tata Motors from India owns it.)

Mazda        Atekza           

Mazda        Axela             

Mazda        Capella          

Mazda        Danlo             

Mazda        Demico          

Mazda        Premacy        

Mazda        Scrum            

Mazda        Biante            

Mazda        RX7

               

Mini Cooper 

                          

Mitsubishi  Colt                

Mitsubishi  Delica            

Mitsubishi  Minica            

Mitsubishi  Pajero Miri 

    

Nissan       AD                 

Nissan       Bluebird         

Nissan       Caravan         

Nissan       Cedric            

Nissan       Cube            (We were wondering:  Does the wrap-around window wrap to the left or right in the     

                                     US?  In Japan, it's on the left, opposite the steering wheel.)

Nissan       Dualis            

Nissan       Fuga              

Nissan       Harno             

Nissan       LaFesta 
Nissan       Liberty          

Nissan       March            

Nissan       Moco             

Nissan       Note               

Nissan       Roox              

Nissan       Serena           

Nissan       Tiana      

Nissan       Tiida              

Nissan       Xtrail              

Nissan       Skyline     

           

Peugeot     Mood             

Peugeot     SW (station wagon)

Range Rover      Vogue 

       

Renault      Espace          

Renault      Lutecia           

                           

Smart Car     

                   

Subaru       Impreza          

Subaru       Legacy           

Subaru       R2

                 

Suzuka       Every              (by Honda)

Suzuka       Palette            (by Honda)

Suzuki        Alto 
Suzuki        Every                

Suzuki        Lepo              

Suzuki        Stingray
Suzuki        Swift
Suzuki        WagonR   

      

Toyota        ?                       (looks like a really wide Hummer) 

Toyota       Ace                

Toyota       Aeras             

Toyota       Allion             

Toyota       Alphard 
Toyota       Aqua          

Toyota       Aristo             

Toyota       Athlete           

Toyota       Auris              

Toyota       Belta              

Toyota       Celsior           

Toyota       Crown             (Nagoya's standard taxi car, a luxury car and a police car.)

Toyota       Duet               

Toyota       Estima
Toyota       Fielder    

Toyota       FJ Cruiser      

Toyota       Hi Jet (truck)  

Toyota       Hiace             

Toyota       Ipsum 
Toyata       Isis    

Toyota       Ist                  

Toyota       Kluger            

Toyota       Majesta          

Toyota       Marki             

Toyota       MR-S      (corresponds to MR2-Spider in US)
Toyota       Noah             

Toyota       Opa               

Toyota       Pixis              

Toyota       Porte              

Toyota       Prado             

Toyota       Prebox           

Toyota       Prius               (The car I feel I see the most.)

Toyota       Progres          

Toyota       Pronard          

Toyota       Raum             

Toyota       Rav 4L           

Toyota       Regius           

Toyota       Royal Salmon

Toyota       Rumion          

Toyota       Sette              

Toyota       Sienta          

Toyota       Soarer            

Toyota       Spacio           

Toyota       Spada 
Toyota       Sprinter           

Toyota       Succeed         

Toyota       Taida             

Toyota       Town Ace       

Toyota       TX                 

Toyota       Vellfire           

Toyota       Vitz                

Toyota       Voxy               (Most popular van in Japan)

Toyota       Windom         

Toyota       Windy          

         

Vamos                             (Made by a Costa Rican car company--cool name! Spanish for "let's go")

VW            Passat           

  VW           Jetta

We parked next to this baby at the Nagoya Airport.
I didn't list it; we don't know what kind it is.

Now isn't that just interesting!  (Maybe not.)  So if that totally bored you, here are a few names of hair salons:  

Hair Salon Sincere

Cut Club

Hair River Pool

And a couple of other cute Japanese things:

The sign in front of Tanaka Home Center (a furniture store)--"Smart Your Life, Sweet Your Home"

Sign in a car that passed us:  "Maternity in the Car.  I am Safety Driver."