Huh, Then again look how small there country is. Im sure that has alot to do with it. Car’s are cool. But One of the major reason we buy a car here is that We have to travel so far. We are very spread out compared to them. We also like are idea of freedom. To go anywere anytime.

My bad ( we also like the idea to go anywere anytime becasue we like are freedom.)^

At first, I thought Kuruma Banare was some sort of hurricane or tsunami or something…

I’ve heard that in Japanese markets it’s the American companies that do well, and the Japanese (specifically Toyota) really lag behind. I know Suzuki sells tons of vehicles over there, since they don’t sell many of here, how about just sending some of those vehicles over here? I’m sure 10,000 a year would sell out good, as long as you don’t increase that number.

How about more incentives to telecommute?

Maybe the car manufacturers should try $3 gas guarantees for three years.

The more I hear about driving over there, the more I like it here.

Jayjc08, you just had a Billy Madison moment. Toyota has over 50% domestic market share in Japan. Toyota is Japan’s largest company. You should probably never again listen to the person who told you that.

Japan also has double the suicide rate of the US largely due to cramped conditions and lack of jobs in the urban areas that the youth are flocking to. I stayed there for 5 months in an average apartment which was the size of a queen size bed plus the bathroom area. Any longer inside there and I’d be ready to kill myself!

japan has more options
@jayjc08
it’s a de-facto rule in japan that no one should buy a foreign car.

Kaizen- I had known Toyota is one of Japan’s largest companies, but I had actually never known that they had a large amount of the market. I had read that all the (few) Ford’s imported over there sold like hotcakes and that left hand drive vehicles were popular. I was wrong on that one, my bad.

That’s cool; I’m over-defensive.

I prefer Japan’s chitsu onarra

Ha… Saving for a mobile phone or all the latest gadgets, including Wii’s and PS3’s… The Japanese youth need to get out and get lives… I remember when I was 16 and I saved for 3 years to get my first car, granted priorities are priorities and everyones’ differs… my priorities come into check when it comes to having a nicer home than a car but again just depends on the individual.

Do people (”analysts”) honestly expect people from Japan to be interesting in cars? I mean, we are talking about the country that makes, without a doubt, some of the most uninspiring cars ever created. I am not bashing the Japs..I am making a serious point. Japs make cars that simply take you from point A to point B. No excitement, not fun-to-drive, and the only thing the have going for them is that they are tech-geeky (take the Lexus LS600h with all its over-the-top useless technology). If your country’s transit systems are top-notch, its automobiles not exciting, and technology is all around you, why wouldn’t you spend your money on tech rather than auto?

kuruma banare… is that anything like bukkake?

car or phone mhmm lets see ?
id stick with car

commodore, good point.. there cars are too cheap and crappy handling no fun there

I was thinking the same thing Olds. Bukkake indeed. Speaking of Bukkake, where’s Hemiroadrunner these days?

Fuel prices in Japan are the highest in the world…Electricity rates can average 43 cents a KW in Japan…are these maybe reasons the Japanese do not or cannot afford to drive a car? Most everything is imported in Japan and this very small highly populated country. Japan is at its own tipping point for what can be afforded and not. Playing golf is also a luxury in Japan…tee times are set sometimes two years in advance.

All Honda and Toyota drivers should have to live there for at least a year.

lol Commodore, well when I think of what Toyota and Honda currently offer, yeah their cars are pretty uninspiring. Granted Honda has the S2000 which is praised highly and the Civic Si. Mazda and Nissan on the other hand do have some pretty fun vehicles such as Mazda’s MX5 Miata, RX8, Mazdaspeed 6 (dead as of now) and Mazdaspeed 3, and well Nissan has the GT-R and the 350Z. As far as what’s offered in Japan as far as Mazda’s cars go I don’t really know but not all of the cars coming out of Japan are uninspiring. Unfortunately I also think that many of Japan’s youth are satisfied with driving these cars on their PS3’s playing Gran Turismo, without having to dish out 1000’s of dollars or millions of yen to actually have it. Pretty sad…

“Automobiles used to represent a symbol of our status, a Western, modern lifestyle that we aspired for,” Ryuichi Kitamura, a transport expert and professor at Kyoto University, told Newsweek. For today’s young people, he argues, “such thinking is completely gone.”

Lets drop another bomb on them and that should get them back on track

Car in the U.S. is a necessary liability with the crappy transportation system in everywhere except the metro areas like D.C., NYC, Boston. Car in Japan is a stupidity with the good train network and other public transportation.

For the U.S., the deciding factor is going to be price of gas and cost of living. People are getting creative in saving money. The cost of living is climbing faster than increase in salary, which is changing people’s spending habit. What would you choose between food and a car when you could ride the bus? What about car payment vs. mortgage payment? When it gets so expensive to commute and park the car in the city, or to even keep insurance on the car, people will move back to the city, or at least carpool, or use park-n-ride. That’s why we see the new suburban developments are the first to suffer in the bursting of the housing market bubble.

Light rail systems, or trolley projects will get a chance with enough population moving back into city neighborhoods to sustain riderships. I think we will see similar trend in the U.S. with young city warriors. People living in the country will of course need a car as it is necessary.

Need4SSpeed – yea, but those are basically a bunch of ricer cars. I may be biased, but I see those cars as being driven by Mexicans and other wanna-be kids that think they are cool. If we went by how riced out a Civic Si is when judging excitement, then that Dodge Neon with the fake exhaust that cut me off today must be pretty exciting. It’s not.

And, may I mention the irony of your criticizing Japanese kids for playing video games w/ cool cars instead of driving them when your username is basically a video game – Need For Speed

Hey if you feel they are ricer cars then that’s your opinion. I totally respect it. I’m definitely not a Civic Si or a ricer fan but I was just pointing out that not everything that the Japanese produce are uninspiring.

“but I see those cars as being driven by Mexicans and other wanna-be kids that think they are cool” I don’t know where you live but I don’t see many Hispanic people or kids driving Nissan 350Z’s, RX-8’s, and S2000’s. For cars that sticker in the 28k-40k+ I hardly see kids driving them, more like white haired men is what I see driving those cars.

Also it’s only a coincidence that I used Need For Speed in my moniker. Unlike those kids that I was referring to I actually participate in drag races, autocross, and local track days in my area and I actually drive in real life. And I’ll be honest in saying that I have a serious speed addiction.

It’s all because the Japanese people know how crappy their cars are and the Japanese government severely limits imports.

Wa ta shi no kuruma suteki!!!

The japs are just a bunch of nerds anyway.

They sure do like those obstacle course game shows though.