Baby trucks

When I grow up, I want to be a Kenworth!
As one walks around Kyoto - or any city in Japan, I suppose - one is struck by many differences between here and, well, wherever else I suppose you come from. One of these things is trucks.

Cars in Japan look just like cars in America or Europe. Indeed, there are many of the same makes and models here as you'd find elsewhere in the world. Not just Honda Civics and Toyota Corollas (all called by different names here, but very recognizeable in form), but also Benzes, Beemers, Peugeauts and so forth. And to me they all look normal. Like cars should.

But not so with trucks. While cars are regular-sized, trucks are tiny from the reference point of my experience. Ti-neeee.

Left to right: truck, passenger van, car

And again, but this one sandwiched between two sedans
It makes sense, of course. Passenger cars need to be a certain size to accomodate a certain reasonable number of people. And in a place like Japan, where public transit is superb while space is at a premium, cars are just as much a status symbol as a means of conveyence. And so a car of a certain size shows that you can afford a garage of corresponding square footage. But streets here are narrow and windy, so there is no way... no way that the buildings, powerl lines, and trees here could possibly survive an American-sized truck. And I don't mean a big 18-wheeler. I mean a 'regular' delivery truck. And so the large numbers of trucks that have about the same footprint (both horizontally and vertically) as a passenger sedan.

Logical. But for now, a little disconcerting...

Baby trucks

When I grow up, I want to be a Kenworth!
As one walks around Kyoto - or any city in Japan, I suppose - one is struck by many differences between here and, well, wherever else I suppose you come from. One of these things is trucks.

Cars in Japan look just like cars in America or Europe. Indeed, there are many of the same makes and models here as you'd find elsewhere in the world. Not just Honda Civics and Toyota Corollas (all called by different names here, but very recognizeable in form), but also Benzes, Beemers, Peugeauts and so forth. And to me they all look normal. Like cars should.

But not so with trucks. While cars are regular-sized, trucks are tiny from the reference point of my experience. Ti-neeee.

Left to right: truck, passenger van, car

And again, but this one sandwiched between two sedans
It makes sense, of course. Passenger cars need to be a certain size to accomodate a certain reasonable number of people. And in a place like Japan, where public transit is superb while space is at a premium, cars are just as much a status symbol as a means of conveyence. And so a car of a certain size shows that you can afford a garage of corresponding square footage. But streets here are narrow and windy, so there is no way... no way that the buildings, powerl lines, and trees here could possibly survive an American-sized truck. And I don't mean a big 18-wheeler. I mean a 'regular' delivery truck. And so the large numbers of trucks that have about the same footprint (both horizontally and vertically) as a passenger sedan.

Logical. But for now, a little disconcerting...