Musical Automobiles

Here in Japan, as in other countries, people must get their cars inspected and pay a tax on them. Plus, they have to buy special JCI insurance and liability insurance for the car, too. It is an expensive and difficult process, and the Japanese consider it very serious business. The gaijin population here kind of gets around it by purchasing old, beat up cars with insurance still on them – that way it just transfers with the car, and you avoid the process altogether.

Last year my loved one bought a 1990 Toyota Carina; it had been abused in its long life – a couple of front-end accidents, a poor maintenance history with several completely worn out parts. Well, the JCI ran out this month, so I had to replace it. I must admit I miss it. I used to drive a 1990 Toyota Camry (it’s the same car), and except for the steering wheel being on the other side, it felt very familiar. For the short distances I would drive it, it was a perfect car; however, it had to go. It usually took 4 or 5 tries to start it every morning and would often die somewhere on the way to work. To repair and insure it would have cost 8 times what it was worth. I purchased a 1992 Nissan Pressia from someone whose contract was up and was headed home. It is the same size as the Carina had been – I was hoping for something smaller, but when you’re shopping for used cars, you can’t be too picky. The JCI is good until January, and it is in such good shape it will cruise through the inspection. The entire process of transferring the ownership wasn’t too bad, and I was able to do it myself. It required a trip to the city license office. After successfully paying my road tax last month, I wasn’t worried about the language aspect, but since I had to go through 4 windows I was afraid it would take a long time. Not so! I barely had to wait at any of the windows and was in and out in 30 minutes. What a pleasure!

The icing on the cake was that as I passed by the river in my “new to me” car, I saw the big kites from the Big Kite Festival over the water. There were about 15 of them, square, 20 feet by 20 feet and brightly painted with fierce samurai. The wind was blowing their long tails lazily back and forth, 10 to a kite. They bobbed along in a stately procession as their handlers hurried down the shore. I pulled over by a rice paddy and watched until they were out of sight.

Have a great day!! Drive carefully!