Pimp my Ride: Japan style

This is  one of the funniest things to me about their strict adhere-to-the-norm culture.

Cars and their modifications very likely started with the yakuza and somewhere along the way some more degenerates picked it up, and now it is not entirely uncommon to see a car or two all kinds of crazy looking. The primary format of disrupting the norm are the humongous decals that take up the entire body of the car. I know when I walk to work, there lives somewhere around here a giant purple dragon that come zooming right along with extra loud and noisy diesel engines. But another popular offender is that large anime character prints on the sides of cars. With these two it pretty much makes the tops of mini coopers seem normal. 

not my brothers room...

Getting to second base is like seeing the cars with the low lights, or for that matter, lights of any kind adorning their car. These are less common, but where you find one, you might just find another, it is like they travel in packs. You know those party lights that you always get for your dorm and think will be 'OMG so cool' and then kind of come to regret later and thing now what do I do with these; well the Japanese have answered your question. I feel like that is the exact kind of light they use, but then again I am no pro, or even mildly interested in the matter of adorning things with lights. More than likely they are some LED variety. 

And finally if those things just are not good enough for you, you can always go and get a foreign car (like a Chevy) and make sure its an older version, and proceed to pimp the loving exhaust functions out of that piece. I am talking rims, wheels, hydraulics and it all. And then, even then, it may not just be enough, you might not just be there yet, just you know, almost...but not. And therefore, you have no other choice, but a full body modification. I am talking about colors, and spoilers, and demon hoods with holes and horns in them, piping leading to nowhere with no function. And then, only then, might you feel some sort of small complete satisfaction that you have in fact pimped your car all that you can. 

You are now driving the oldest gold Oldsmobile your money could possibly find, it had tiger stripes down the side and the weirdest lightening spoiler that was custom made just for this piece and it is sporting some yellow lighting in strategic places along the sides of the car and the top of the spoiler or more like giant antennae, and upon you hood, you hood is on giant decal with the very face of Japans symbol, a much larger than life Pikacchu. Congratulations. You have in fact caught them all. 

That purple beast over there, she's a beaut right?

awwwa yeah nothing will score you some ladies quicker.

Sticker discrimination

Remember when you first started driving and you got your drivers permit and the card told you that you had certain restrictions to driving like no more than 2 people in the car, no driving after 9pm etc...But also remember how you broke those rules all the time. Those rules were meant to be broken. There was totally no way to enforce them because there was no way to know if you were under a permit or a regular license unless you were pulled over.
In Japan they have a small step up from that. Here they have stickers, or these metal car decor that identify just what kind of driver you are. Though I have no idea just what those restrictions are. For me, I see it as a way to identify those that can easily be hassled on the road. Oh don't pretend you don't know what I am talking about. Everyone says that they want to fool around with those driving the drivers ed car. It is also a way to identify those you most likely want to pass on the road.
There are two kinds of stickers, both can easily be bought and/or replaced at the local dollar store.
One sticker is that of a yellow and teal colored arrow which is to signify the driver is a new one and is under a 6 month permit. This one is commonly called wakaba maaku. Which pretty much means young driver (though a bit more eloquent than that). I think it is interesting in Japan they like to use nice, nature sounding names for lots of things, like special education classes to make them sound more pleasant and interesting or perhaps as a way to hedge calling them exactly what they are and sound kind of cute about it. I suppose that is really the same thing. It is kind of like when trying to talk about a fat person and calling them big boned or saying there is just more to love. Yeah like that.
The other sticker is a yellow and orange tear drop that is to signify that someone is elderly, over 75. Seeing as the common man certainly does not retire around 60, the senior citizens age is a nice decade and a half higher. Recently though, there has been a lot of fuss over that sticker. You see the name of the sticker was called momiji maaku, referring to the fall color of leaves. Even the color is a tribute to those spectacular Japanese maple leaves. But you know what fall leaves do? They fall. That is right those very leaves are pretty much in their end stage and the elderly think that that factor and perhaps the the tear drop shape is a little bit grim. Seeing as they certainly do not want a constant reminder of just how close they are to their next lives, they would rather have a happier looking decal. So in place of the tear drop, earlier this year they began issuing a four-leaf clover pattern of greens, orange and yellow. Four leaf clovers and luck and happiness right? Problem solved.

Meter Maids in Japan

A few of my friends in Japan have coined a cute little nick name for these guys, Green Goblins. This in large part comes from them always wearing green, and also of course never really being a pleasant site to see.

These are the people who ticket your bikes and cars and are always prepared to tow them (or impound them). 

In many places, you are allowed to park your car for a maximum of 30 minutes before they come and tow or boot it(if you are not allowed to park there or there is a no bicycles sign, they can ticket or possibly tow your immediately...upon spotting you). This is a rough 30 minutes, because you see, the 30 minutes starts from when they catch you. Traditionally, they would come by with chalk and would make an outlining of your car on the pavement, or possibly just its wheels, with perhaps a time stamp as well (also in chalk). In 30 minutes time when they return to check on your car, if it has moved then they don't need to worry, but if it hasn't, that is when it get a ticket or a boot. 

Now an easy way to over come this would be to make sure every 30 minutes or so you move your car around. But that can also be just too much of a hassle for people. 

This chalk method also works for people and bikes as well. Yeah. People. I was told that they will outline people speaking at like a public square (who have not previously organized with the park or area to be able to speak there at an allotted time). For example, if a politician was to be speaking at a certain venue at a certain time, I am certain it would be most acceptable; however lower politicians and activists will do demonstrations at parks and they have a 30 minute time allowance before they too get 'towed'. 

This chalk method might be a bit dated as they seem to have little electronic gadgets now where you can probably just plug the information in, though these gadgets could be purely for ticketing as opposed to timing vehicles. Or perhaps the chalk method is more meant for a scenario where a person who was not the original tagger to be able to determine how long a vehicle has been parked in a certain location. Or maybe they just don't trouble themselves with chalking cars any more since they are rarely parked in locations where chalk would be necessary for long (really it is just that people never drive them since public transportation is so fantastic here). They are more concerned with bicycles and motorbikes, though that could just be because I live in a larger city, where there is a great number of bicycles and their riders.

So what happens if you car gets a boot or your bike get impounded? Well you have to either call the organization to get the boot removed and pay the fine, or go and retrieve your bike (and also pay the money). Apparently it is a pain in the butt if your bike get impounded because you have to walk to the impound on foot and it is never near any sort of station. You could also take a taxi to got get it as well, but depending on the location and the nearest taxi services, that could be quite expensive. I was told in a joking manner that the walk is supposed to be a sort of penance for your misdeed and also to make you reconsider doing it again (as you wouldn't want to walk there again). In addition to where ever it would be that you have to pick up your bike, you would then have to ride it all the way back to your place, which could again be quite far if the impound is on the outskirts of the city. 

But what if you get there just in time? As in they are writing the ticket and you arrive?

I was actually able to witness this event just this weekend. Quite unlike the United States, if you arrive there and make it clear that it is you car, they will just walk away and there is no penalty. No ticket. No boot. Nothing. The man I saw this weekend just went up and unlocked his door and opened it. No words were said at all. These meter maids just packed up their little instruments and walked away. The man then went back inside the store once their backs were turned and they were far enough away. Hah!
To the left is them ticketing the car and, if you can see it, in the one on the right there is a man in the car now and the meter maids have dispersed. Here you can see the no parking sign, so this person does not have a 30 minute window, he just gets a ticket if caught.

Borrowed Cars

An extremely interesting option for those who do not have a car, borrowing a car. This is like a car rental service minus all the people. 

This is a really nifty feature of Japan society. Since the majority of people do not have cars as there is simply no space to have a car (most houses do not come with garages or anywhere to park your car), and the fact that owning a car can get pretty expensive, with the parking fees (if you do not have a personal parking lot, you must pay some company for the use of their garage to permanently store your car when it is not in use) and the parking fees (when you go somewhere) and the insurance for the car, and the fuel it eats. You get the picture. It all adds up. So unless you are pretty well off, you most likely don't have a car. But that does not mean you don't have to not have a drivers license. You can still get one of these without registering the car for which you need it. Therefore this little invention of Times Plus, basically a rental car, can be extremely handy for people who need to get somewhere out of the way of buses and trains (or possibly you just have a lot of baggage that can't properly be handled on a train or bus). 

From a designated spot, and for a certain fee you get to rent out this car for a an undesignated amount of time. You pay a pretty low initial fee something like 2 or 3 hundred yen (I am not sure the exact amount here) to be able to use this car. Of course you must have a drivers license, with which at some computer you will register your use of the vehicle before you can use it. Clearly this is for their own security purposes, so if any damage comes to the car, your identity is on file. Now what is to stop you from stealing someones drivers license and identity... your good heart? I don't exactly know. But I do know that the computer at which you register has a camera so that if any inaccuracies or identity thefts occur, it can be easily checked. 

After you check out the car you also must pay by the hour as per use. I can't tell you the fee for that simply because I have never done it (I also don't have a Japanese license). And if you need more gas you have to pay for that too. You also have to pay for the parking of anywhere you park, and in Japan, parking is hardly ever free. 

When you are done with the car, you simply return it from whence it came paying for the hours for which it was absent from its parking spot. Nice and simple right?