Comments

Posts

There are no imported cars in Japan

Daniel Gross

A line about foreign cars in Japan from an article by Slate’s Daniel Gross about how those wacky anti-foreign Japanese somehow love foreign food:

On the 80-minute ride from Narita Airport to Tokyo, I tried in vain to spot an imported car on the road.

It’s hard to see this statement as anything other than a deliberate lie. If one was indeed trying to spot imported cars on a Japanese road, it should not have taken very long to do so – European cars are everywhere in Japan. Volkswagens, BMWs, Mercedes-Benzes, Audis, Volvos, and Renault cars are so visible in Japan that it would be downright impossible for someone to miss them.

[hat tip to Joe]

—

Akihabara News – Gadgetry from Japan (Subscribe)
dannychoo.com – Your portal to Japan (Subscribe)
Kirainet.com – A geek in Japan (Subscribe)

28 comments - What do you think? Posted by James - June 24, 2009 at 7:19 pm

Categories: Foreigners in Japan Tags: Daniel Gross

RMilner

>>It’s hard to see this statement as anything other than a deliberate lie.

Indeed.

It’s not unusual to see cars with the steering wheel on the left — these are very obviously special imports.
Darin

I think it’s very obvious the author is talking about American cars, however he would be hard pressed to find many American cars in America these days.
somegirl

I live in the countryside of Japan and there are MANY imported cars here. I even saw a Pontiac Grand Am!! same as the one I have back home. There has been Ford trucks, and a couple of old mustage cruising about. And then there is T\the Harley-Davidson dealership just down the road for bikes. How can you NOT see imported cars. Even my son has a Harley Bicycle.

http://www.squidoo.com/the_free_market_myth Eric

“I live in the countryside of Japan and there are MANY imported cars here. I even saw a Pontiac Grand Am!! same as the one I have back home. There has been Ford trucks, and a couple of old mustage cruising about. And then there is the Harley-Davidson dealership just down the road for bikes. How can you NOT see imported cars. Even my son has a Harley Bicycle.”

Well maybe so, but that is really just anecdotal evidence. Hey, I live in Japan and I drive a Volvo, but the actual penetration of foreign cars is only about 5% of the market.
Japanese car manufacturers had nearly a 50% share of the American market before last year’s finacial meltdown.

The truth is that Japan produces vastly more than it could ever consume in the way of manufactured goods because, “Japan is a small country with no natural resources” and so supposedly must export or perish.

Interestingly, you never hear such rationalizations from (for example) Switzerland, even though being a landlocked and completely mountainous nation, it is far more bereft of natural resources than is Japan.

I think it’s perfectly natural that an observant person coming to Japan would feel that there were “no” foreign cars on the road, just as there is “no” diversity in the general population–compared to major American cities, there is very little diversity in Japan in terms of both the products on the shelves and the people on the street. Both of those facts are reflections of Japan’s insularity.

Before you condemn this journalist as clueless fool, have a read of this article by Eamonn Fingleton, who is no fool and knows Japan very well indeed.

ckx

Eamonn Fingleton has some good points and the article brings some much-needed balance to this discussion. I’m not an expert or anything, but I’m pretty sure Japanese car makers have a bigger share in the EU market and many other local markets worldwide than American makers. How would you explain that? Many of the cars(excluding Ford)that are being produced are just not appealing enough(yet)on a global level. American cars also suffer from a negative image in Japan. They are seen as cars driven by gangsters and (japanese-)yankees, so many people won’t even consider buying one and would choose a European car if they would buy a foreign car.
And regarding Switzerland, the money in their banks is mostly foreign and it is a lot…what would Switzerland be without foreign capital?

http://www.squidoo.com/the_free_market_myth Eric

“Japanese car makers have a bigger share in the EU market and many other local markets worldwide than American makers. How would you explain that?”

Well, that’s easy to explain: the Japanese make great cars at affordable prices. But why is that so? When you boil it all down, it’s because they have so much money. There are many reasons for that, but the fact that the Japanese market is essentially closed to all but a few token foreign luxury goods is one of the main ones. The Japanese government is especially careful to keep foreign capital out of Japan; Tokyo Disneyland, for example, is wholly Japanese owned.

So the Japanese have their economic theories and the Americans also have ones of their own. The problem with the American theories, or rather the theorists, is that they tend to elide over anything that doesn’t fit neatly in with their theories, like the fact that the American auto industry is on the brink of extinction while Toyota and Honda are going from strength to strength.

The conventional wisdom is, as usual, wrong. Detroit’s demise is not due to the stupidity and wrong-headedness of American auto executives–they are actually on the whole really brilliant guys–it’s due to America’s misguided and mistaken economic ideology.

And predictably, when an observant American journalist comes to Japan and notices that there are very few imported cars on the road, he gets mocked and derided, at least on Japan Probe.

About Switzerland, I was only using it as an example of a country that, compared to Japan, has much less in the way of natural resources, but nevertheless does not constantly whine about their predicament.

By the way, Switzerland has not achieved one of the world’s highest per capita GNPs just by accepting bank deposits from foriegners, it is actually one of the most highly industrialized countries in the world. If you don’t believe me, have a listen to this lecture by Dr. Ha-Joon Chang.
http://www.japanprobe.com James

And predictably, when an observant American journalist comes to Japan and notices that there are very few imported cars on the road, he gets mocked and derided, at least on Japan Probe.

He did not write that he noticed there were “very few” imported cars on the road. He claimed that he spent the 80-minute ride from Narita Airport to Tokyo trying to spot an imported car, and he couldn’t spot one. Not a single imported car. Readers are left with the impression that there are no imported cars on the road in Japan.

Foreign cars may not have more than 10% of the market in Japan, but if one was actively searching the road on a drive into Tokyo, one would have to be very unobservant not to spot quite a few.

Mr. Gross could have written an observant statement about almost all of the cars on the road being Japanese – nobody here disputes that Japanese auto makers dominate the market here. Instead, he chose to make a claim so extreme that it makes residents of the Tokyo area wonder if he actually even bothered looking out the window on his bus ride.

http://www.joesblog.jp Joe

There are no American cars because American cars are shit.
Eggnogg

Lying? No. Stupid statement? Absolutely. What makes you think he’s lying?
helical

Maybe he’s being honest … only he only tried looking for the first 5 minutes. Except for around a few bigger stations, there’s a whole bunch of rice paddies, forest, shrubbery, and not much else in the immediate area around Narita Airport.

http://www.japanprobe.com James

If he only spent 5 minutes searching, I would consider his statement to be intentionally misleading.

As I see it, the sentence implies 3 things:

1) He spent a good amount of the bus ride trying to search for imported cars. Mentioning the 80-minute length of the ride emphasizes all the time he had to search.
2) He searched for foreign cars. Even though Slate is an American publication, we can’t assume that its readers would read the term “imported cars” to mean only American cars.
3) His attempt was in vain – he could spot no imported cars.

Others may have different ways of interpreting his observation, but I see him making those claims. As I wrote, I find it hard to believe he is being honest when making such a claim.

( One example of him making an “honest” observation: There exists a possibility that he simply cannot recognize BMW’s, Benzes, and other European cars. If that’s the case, he probably shouldn’t be be making any claims about a lack of “imported cars” in the first place. )

http://www.chirimotsumoreba.net Jordan

I’m assuming he took a bus from Narita to Tokyo and I’m also assuming he took the expressways.. probably during a weekday. All there is to see then is a bunch of truckers, corporate vehicles going to and fro and other buses. You want to see some imported vehicles? Go to where the wealthy live either in Tokyo or out in the suburbs.. I see them all the time.

Hell, go sit around Shibuya, Shinjuku and Harajuku. You’ll see more beemers than you can imagine.
Jeremy

I was a student in Japan in 1993-1994, I saw a Rolls Royce next to my host family’s house. I even saw a lowered Buick, yes Buick, station wagon around Takadanobaba as well.

If Gross took a Limousine bus, it can be hard to see what car you are looking at that high in the air. He must have been exhausted from his trip.

When NASCAR had exhibition races at Suzuka and Twin Ring Motegi in 1997-2000, Dale Earnhardt Sr. said that they felt their races would help American cars in the Japanese market. Provided that there were nationwide Chevy dealers and that that model was actually sold there.

You are not going to find many American cars because there were never many dealers (a dozen tops, is my guess) of Ford, GM or Chrysler to begin with.
MrSatyre

After my first couple of trips to Japan, I started to look for foreign cars, and while I didn’t see them “everywhere”, I did see them often enough.

And yes, as an American, I can honestly admit that American cars are “shit”, as Joe pointed out. Kia’s are also pretty crappy. I’ve been shouting from the rooftops for years that we really ought to put companies like Lockheed Martin or Boeing or General Dynamics or General Electric in charge of our automotive industry. Sure, they’d cost billions of dollars, and take years to test and fine tune, but at least the results would be world-class!
http://www.japanprobe.com/?p=10998#comments 東洋人

Well…i don’t really care if he’s lying or not, but i’m sure that Japan doesn’t really need any imported car since Japan has been manufacturing lots of great cars compared to any foreign country. Plus, car which manufactured by japan was well-known around the globe for its quality.
http://whatjapanthinks.com Ken Y-N

Oh, dear, it goes wrong even before that:

The government is offering immigrants from South America—many themselves descendants of Japanese emigrants—$3,000 to return home (the better to free up jobs for native-born Japanese)

It’s been only descendants who have been offered the cash, and it’s been to unemployed people, so there’s no job to free up.

And I don’t want to know what a “Doppio” is – I was actually in a US Starbucks last week and I don’t remember seeing that on the menu.

I look forward to seeing how wrong the rest of his articles will be – I predict he will describe One Seg as streaming, for instance…
http://whatjapanthinks.com Ken Y-N

Oh, and aren’t all Japanese Starbucks menus bilingual?

http://www.keepingpaceinjapan.com Turner Wright

Indeed. I just love ordering a “premium hot chocolate” only to be asked “Do you want it hot or cold?”

Eddie

Jewish-American reporter in shock dishonest article scandal!!!
morphine

Obviously this guy is full of BS and doesn’t know enough about Japan to be writing the article in the first place. Five minutes in Harajuku and you will probably see more imported (though probably not so many American) cars than Japanese ones.

Also: “The logic of dubbing fried chicken pieces as “shaka shaka chicken” still eludes this gaijin.”

Right, could that possibly because you don’t know anything about onomatopoeia or mimetic words in Japanese?

Kick this douche out of Japan.
Vox24

It’s true.

I just checked the Golf GTi I bought last month – turns out it’s a Daihatsu Mira with a body kit.
me

This article is so true! Japan is very wacky and different.
http://ddurgee.blogspot.com darg

Last time I took that bus from Narita to Tokyo (about 2 months ago) I saw at least 5 imported cars before we even left Narita, and I wasn’t even really looking! The parking lot is full of BMWs, Benzes and Audis among others.

Anyone else notice he said the rice on his sushi was warm? ick.

LB

Freshly-done sushi rice should be slightly warm. You can’t properly make the little blocks of rice from ice-cold rice – plus rice hardens as it cools.

Now, the stuff that has been circulating for 20 minutes on the conveyor belt at Kappa Sushi, yes, that will be cold. But it isn’t when it first comes out of the kitchen.

Kitaro

Wow, I live out in a semi-rural area 2 hours from Tokyo and even my neighbor has a Ford Escape SUV!
Anonymous

Wait, don’t some Noise Trucks use GM products as well?
Karina

I live in a small city in Aomori pref, and I don’t live in an upscale area. But I’ve seen at least several BMWs, a least a couple of Mini Coopers, a few Mercedes, at least a few Volvos and a few Volkwagens around the city that I live and go to university.

These are clearly outnumbered by Toyota, Honda, Suzuki, etc etc…but nowhere near rare or extremely scarce or ‘nowhere to be found’.

It’s sad when people post things about Japanese life that is not truthful like this.
http://www.zdwonline.de Haf

When I was living in Saitama-ken, I saw a “A-Klasse” Mercedes in the neighbourhood, which was quite funny because I used to work in the manufacturing plant during the summer when I was a student. ^^

There are no imported cars in Japan

Recent Comments

Further Reading

South Korean Government Demands That International Hydrographic Organization Use “East Sea”

Japanese Documentary About Sea Shepherd’s Protest Activities in Taiji (English Subtitles)

Babies Born on March 11th Receive Special Present

Washington Times Freelancer Slams Former Employer, Fails to Ethically Disclose Relationship?

Christopher Johnson Attempts to Silence Criticism of His “Gaijin Gulag” Article (Legal Threats!!!)

Tabloid Reports About Yu Darvish’s Love Life: Kirara Asuka & Miho Koga?

Does K-Pop Group KARA Have Ties to North Korea?

Tokyo Gate Bridge

Sara Errani Admits She Avoided Tennis Tournament in Tokyo: Feared Radiation

Chinese Workers Who Survived March 11th Tsunami Return to Tohoku

Categories

Archives

Subscribe

Japan Blogs

Korea Blogs

Linkroll

Other Asia Blogs