I asked the Gakuranman what it meant and he explained that the sticker was for beginner drivers. I would soon find out that the Gakuranman had more than earned this sticker, and later found out that it was just one sticker of many.

It shouldn’t be surprising that Japan offers a whole array of colorful symbols for the road, but you might not know what all of them mean. Here’s the breakdown of the four stickers you might see in Japan:

Beginners 🔰

In the US, if you take a driving class before you get your license, you usually get the honor of driving around in a car with a giant, yellow “STUDENT DRIVER” sign so everybody on the road is at least aware of your incompetence.

But once you get your license, there’s no indication that you’re a new driver. You’re free to terrorize the roads without anybody knowing that you’ve only been driving for two weeks.

Not so in Japan. For one year after you get your driver’s license in Japan, you have to put the green and yellow “beginner” sticker on the front and back of your car. It lets other drivers on the road that they should maybe give you a little more room and patience than your ordinary driver.

The official name of this sticker in Japanese is 初心運転者標識, but you might know it as the “wakaba mark” 若葉マーク, or the “green leaf mark.” I guess that the implication is that, as a driver, you’re like a fresh leaf, right out of the bud.

What’s really interesting about the wakaba mark is how far it’s spread. Even though it was created for new drivers, people from virtually every walk of life have embraced the symbol.

Car enthusiasts from around the world slap the wakaba mark on their cars, even if they’re not even remotely beginners. Games will use the symbol to indicate the “easy” or “beginner” difficulties. I’ve seen pictures of wakaba stickers slapped onto computer cases. There’s a wakaba emoji. Hell, I even found this picture of a horse with the wakaba mark on it. New rider, I guess?

It’s cool to me that the wakaba mark has spread so far beyond its intended purpose and is so widely understood. Could the wakaba mark one day become the universal symbol for beginners? Time will tell.

Elderly People

At the beginning and end of people’s driving careers, they tend to not drive as well. In the beginning, it’s because of inexperience; towards the end, it’s because judgement and reaction time aren’t what they used to be.

The way that the Japanese tackle the issue of elderly drivers is, you guessed it, with another sticker. It’s called the 高齢運転者標識, or the “koreisha mark” (“koreisha” meaning “elderly”) for short.

Drivers aged 70 and older have to display the koreisha sticker on their car. It can let other drivers on the road know to have a little more patience with a driver with this particular sticker on their car. Plus, you get other perks like reserved parking spaces.

Koreisha means “elderly,” but people have given the mark other, less flattering names. Instead of the green leaf mark of beginner drivers, people will sometimes call it the autumn leaf, dried leaf, or even fallen leaf mark.

As you might imagine, the image of a withered, dried up, fallen leaf is kind of an offensive way to describe the elderly. Because of this branding problem, in 2011 the koreisha mark changed from the orange and yellow teardrop shaped sticker to a bright, colorful clover symbol.

The change to the new symbol wasn’t that long ago, so you still might see the former koreisha symbol around on cars in Japan.

Handicapped People

Like the US, Japan also has a catch-all handicapped permit for cars. Unlike the US, Japan has doesn’t always use the International Symbol of Access, the universally recognizable symbol of a person in a wheelchair on a blue background.

Instead, Japan also uses a weird, four-leaf clover umbrella symbol called the 身体障害者標識. It’s supposed to be encompass more disabilities than the obvious physical disabilities represented by the International Symbol of Access.

Plus, it fits in with the rest of the other, nature-themed stickers, and disabled otaku can go nuts over having a sticker nicknamed the “yotsuba mark.”

Hearing-Impaired People

Aside from the general handicapped sticker, Japan also has one just for hearing-impaired people. The symbol (called 聴覚障害者標識 in Japanese) is yellow and green, and supposed to represent two ears arranged as a butterfly.

I get that it’s supposed to fit in with the nature theme, but an ear butterfly sounds like something you would find in a serial killer’s house.

So if you’re ever driving in Japan and see one of these stickers, give those drivers a little more room, consideration, and patience. Who knows? The Gakuranman might even be behind the wheel.

But some of those commercials are more strange than others. Case in point, Jean Reno’s recent commercials for Toyota in Japan.

Jean Reno, if you don’t know him, is a French actor who’s had crossover success in the English-speaking world, with a handful of high-profile movies like Leon: The Professional, Ronin, and the trainwreck that was the American Godzilla remake (but we don’t talk about that).

What’s weird about these recent commercial isn’t the actor nor the company, but the fact that they feature Jean Reno dressed as cartoon character Doraemon.

Doraemon is a classic Japanese kid’s cartoon about a time-travelling, robotic cat from the future (who for some reason doesn’t have ears), who hangs out with kids and inexplicably pulls magical items out of a pouch on his stomach.

These Toyota commercials feature a live-action, future version of all the beloved Doraemon characters with Monsieur Reno as the eponymous character.

It’s be like if Chow Yun-fat came to the US to play a live-action Scooby Doo in a commercial for Ford.

The premise of the whole sieries is a little sad, though. It follows the lives of the kids from Doraemon all grown up. The main child from the series, Nobita Nobi, is now 30 years old, single, and without a driver’s license. So who’s to help them?

Nobita has to compete with his rival, Suneo Honekawa, to win the affections of his childhood friend, Shizuka Minamoto. Unfortunately for Nobita however, Suneo has not only a driver’s license, but seemingly unlimited financial success.

But all isn’t lost for Nobita. His old pal Doraemon can help him check out all the sweetest new cars, get his license and hopefully, win the heart of Shizuka.

Doraemon’s help comes in many forms. Hi magical contraptions include a door that leads everywhere; a tiny, head-mounted helicopter; and a phone that shows the future. Not bad for a guy without ears.

One commercial even features AKB48 singer Atsuko Maeda, making the “six degrees of separation” game a snap. Jar Jar Binks to AKB48? Easy!

Jar Jar Binks was in the Star Wars franchise that also starred Natalie Portman, who appeared in Leon The Professional with Jean Reno, who was in a Toyota commercial with Atsuko Maeda who is a singer in AKB48! No problem!

In the end, it’s unclear if Nobita ever gets his license, a car, or the lady of his dreams. But if nothing else, Nobita gets to hang with his futuristic cyber cat and, in the end, isn’t that what’s more important?

Which commercial was your favorite?

Now that you’ve looked at that, take a look at Honda America’s car lineup. Much less boxy, right? The only thing you could call “boxy-shaped” is the SUV and mini-van… and those aren’t true “box-cars,” at least not in my book.

Although not all Japanese cars are boxes and not all American cars are round and flat, you can definitely see the difference between the two. So why are Japanese cars so boxy? It all started after World War II.

The “Kei Cars” Era

After the second World War, most Japanese people didn’t have enough money to buy a car. The Japanese government wanted to help out the Japanese automobile industry though, so they created something known as the “Kei Car Standards.” A “Kei Car” (aka kei-jidosha, aka light automobile) back in 1949 was limited to 150cc, with a max length of 9.2ft (2.8m) and a max width of 3.3ft (1m). A quick search on the Sears website tells me that most modern push lawn mowers are between 150-190cc, if that helps to put things in perspective. No wonder people said the original Japanese Civic had a lawn mower engine in it… perhaps it actually did.

As time went by and more people started driving, restrictions got less strict. In 1950, they increased the cubic centimeters to 300cc. In 1951, it went up to 360cc. By 1990, Kei Cars could be up to 660cc (take that, lawn mowers!) with max length of 11.2ft (3.4m), a max width of 4.9ft (1.48m), and a max height of 6.6ft (2m). This is also when they added a max power restriction of 47 kW (that’s the power of a mere 63 horses). Nehhhhh!

Like this, plus 61 more

By purchasing a Kei Car you get some financial benefits as well. Taxes are 3% instead of 5%. Your automobile weight tax is lower. The cars themselves are cheaper. Also, your liability insurance premiums are cheaper. Basically, there’s some perks to owning one of these cars and the government wants you to buy them because it helps keep the air clean. Due to this, the Kei Car became quite popular. Because of their popularity manufacturers kept innovating and the Kei Car got better and better. Although there has been ups and downs in the history of Kei Cars, they’re doing quite well right now. You save on insurance, you save on gas money, and your car actually fits in Japanese parking spaces. That’s a win-win-win if you ask me.

Oh, and I also believe that they were responsible for the boxiness of Japanese cars. Here’s why:

Why Japanese Cars Are Boxy

The Honda nBox: Has the word “Box” right in its name, just in case you weren’t sure

I feel like a lot of this “car-boxiness” came from the Kei-Cars, because this shape is so absolutely perfect for them. There are a few reasons for this.

1. Japanese speed limits are quite slow. The highest I’ve seen is 100kph (60mph), though generally the speed limit is quite a bit lower.  Also, expressways (where you can drive fastish) tend to require tolls to drive on. Basically, Japanese cars don’t have as many opportunities to drive fast, so being aerodynamic isn’t that big of a deal.
2. Japanese cars (even cars that aren’t Kei Cars) tend to be smaller. Even trucks are more compact. When you drive a tiny car, the last thing you want is for it to feel like you’re driving a tiny car (I’m looking at you, Smart Cars). A square shaped car actually gives you a lot more interior space. Also, you get more headroom. Although the car is still small, you have a lot of space on the inside. Plus, even though more space is taken up on the outside, it doesn’t have any negative effect. For example, you still fit in parking spaces just fine, right?

When you combine these two reasons, square shaped cars just make sense. Your smaller car (which never needs to drive fast) feels a lot bigger. In this type of market, a square shaped car is almost always going to be better than a round shaped car.

Boxy Cars In America?

Boxy cars in America, however, haven’t caught on quite in the same way. We still need to drive more often and more quickly. Also, American cars tend to be bigger, meaning even “smallish” cars (like the Honda Civic, etc) feel like they have enough room on the inside. The boxy cars in America also tend to have lower gas mileage due to the need for more power.

For example, when the Nissan Cube came over to America, it went from having a 47mpg (Japanese Cube) to 30mpg (American Cube). This is because they had to add more horsepower for the American market. Now all the non-aesthetic reasons for having a boxy car don’t make as much sense anymore. It’s hard to have boxy, horsepower, and gas mileage together in one car. You have to choose two and deal with it.

So, even though America does have boxy cars, I don’t think we’ll see them in quite the same way. I do, however, think we’ll get partway there. Cars like the Honda Fit are moderately boxy in terms of the interior space, but still have all the rounded corners that make it more aerodynamic. You’re losing some of the space, but you still get (part) of the gas mileage that a weak, boxy car could get.

I, for one, actually love boxy cars – but I don’t think we’ll see them in America anytime soon. Until America loses its need for speed, Japanese-style boxy cars won’t make too much sense around here, which explains why the “Kei-Car” market is mainly for Japan.

[hr]

Wikipedia: Kei Car

Since then, Japan’s come a long way in the car making biz. Toyota has the most successful hybrid car on the market (seriously, like every other car I see nowadays is a Prius), Honda is well known for its good, reliable and smartly engineered cars, Nissan is paving the way in electric cars (I’m looking at you, Leaf), and Subaru is all nice and 4-wheel-drivey or something like that. All-in-all, Japan’s doing pretty well with the whole car thing and I only see Korea catching up to them in the somewhat near future.

Despite this, they’re not just sitting on their couches made of yen. All the Japanese car manufacturers have been coming up with concept cars. Cars of the FUTURE. While we may not see these cars anytime soon (or at all), I sure wouldn’t mind if I could jump into one of these sooner rather than later. Let’s take a look at the futtturrreee.

Modern Japanese Concept Cars

The cool thing about modern / recent concept cars is that there’s still the possibility of them showing up in the real world. They haven’t been forgotten or stashed away. There’s still that hope that one day you will be hitting the road in a sideways driving pivo or attracting aliens in your Mazda Kiyora. These are my favorite modern Japanese concept cars. Older cars your thing? Skip to the second half.

Nissan Nuvu

You can always count on Nissan to make a lot of weird looking concept cars. Out of all the car manufacturers, they’re the ones who consistently come up with the strangest ideas, and I gotta say, I like some of them. Like the Nuvu, for example.

The Nuvu is an electric car that runs on Lithium Ion batteries. On this battery, it can travel about 80 miles, which doesn’t seem too bad considering how small it is.

I really like the shape of this car for some reason. Seems like it gives the interior a lot more space despite being a really tiny car. It seats three people (comfortably 2), and has a nice pillar on the inside for some reason. I guess it’s supposed to be kind of like a tree? Or maybe an electricity whirlpool? You decide.

This concept was debuted in 2008, and I can definitely see some of its inspiration on the Nissan Leaf. Perhaps the leaf-shaped solar cells all over the roof was a bit of Leaf foreshadowing? I can only assume so. Still, I’d rather have one of these (with the Leaf’s travel distance, though, please). I like that pillar in the middle. Seems nice to hold on to while someone’s blazing down the freeway at this car’s 75mph max speed. VRrooom!

Mazda Kiyora

Can you guess what inspired this car’s design? Turns out it’s water. You can see how flowy it is (though I’m sure they’d recommend you don’t drive it into the ocean anytime soon).

Depending on how you read this, 清ら (きよら) means “elegant beauty” and the kanji itself, 清 means “clean/pure.” Either way, I think both make sense. Japan’s automakers are into an eco-friendly car future and Mazda’s the same. Personally, though, I’d be more into this car if it was a little bigger. Right now it feels a bit too small.

Nissan Pivo2

I remember seeing this car 5-6 years ago in Tokyo (on display somewhere, can’t remember where). Sure, it may look ridiculous, but did you know its wheels can turn sideways, completely destroying the need to parallel park? WHAT? You’d see a lot more teenagers passing their driving test if this car was mainstream, I think.

The inside is pretty interesting too. Completely changes how people normally think of the inside of a car. But did you know the wheels aren’t the only thing that can turn? The entire top carriage can rotate 180 degrees, meaning that you’ll never have to back out of a parking space again.

And, lastly, do you see that little robot in the dash? He talks to you and “keeps you company,” according to Nissan. How sweet… until he turns EVIL, of course. I’ll stick with my non-sentient car, thank you very much.

Honda FC Sport

I’m a big fan of Honda. I’ve owned two Hondas in my 9-year driving career, but after looking up their concept cars, I’m starting to feel a little old fashioned.

The Honda FC Sport is a concept hydrogen fuel cell car that doesn’t actually work. Really, it just looks pretty and sits around at auto shows, but does have some interesting things about it.

Since it’s hydrogen powered (or supposed to be), designers got to rethink the engine and how the entire car works, meaning they can put things in different places, add more space for other things, and really just do whatever they want. Although I doubt that hydrogen fuel cell technology is anywhere near ready for the masses, I’m hoping to see more of this kind of tech in the future.

Toyota CS&S

“Hello Mr. Bond. Nice car you have there…” Except you probably won’t see Bond driving a Toyota anytime soon. The CS&S for this car actually stands for “Compact Sports and Specialty” and uses the setup that powers the popular Prius.

If you look really closely, though, I would say that the bottom 2/3rds of this car resembles a lot of modern Toyota cars. This concept was shown in 2003, so there’s been a lot of time to steal bits and pieces from it. To be honest, though, I kind of like it. I don’t think I’d buy one, but I wouldn’t mind pretending I was interested so I could take a test-drive.

Honda “Small Hybrid Sports”

The whole idea behind this concept car reminds me of what Tesla’s trying to do, although this one’s a hybrid and not an electric car. Honda wanted to make a small sporty hybrid that isn’t boring to drive. Despite all the good intentions, though, it looks like Honda won’t be manufacturing this car. Sorry eco-friendly dudes looking to pick up some eco-friendly chicks, you’ll have to look elsewhere.

Nissan Forum

Ever have that problem where you pick someone up from somewhere, then go to turn your head to look back, only to find that you no longer have a neck? This concept car solves that problem immaculately. The outside, while unique, isn’t all that strange. It’s the inside that makes this concept car great.

Actually, though, this minivan probably has children more in mind than anything else. There’s cameras that send a video feed of the backseat to overly suspicious parents (who obviously don’t care about not being distracted while driving their children around), entertainment systems for every seat, and swiveling middle chairs (RV, anyone?). This is about as fancy as it gets, soccer moms, so keep your eyes peeled for this car or Nissan vans that borrow tech from this car sometime in the future.

Toyota 1/X

Weighing in at 420kg, the Toyota 1/X is approximately half the weight of a Toyota Yaris (already a small car). Why? Because this car is made of carbon fiber reinforced plastic. It’s a plugin hybrid that gets double the fuel efficiency because it’s half the weight. I guess that’s one way to do it, though I’m wondering how safe it is.

You probably won’t have to figure that out, though, because this car won’t be coming to the real world anytime soon (or ever). I wonder if we will see some carbon fiber cars though. Sounds interesting, though probably not something I’d want to have in America, where all cars are at least 23 times heavier than this one.

Honda P-Nut

The P-Nut (Personal Neo Urban Transport) reminds me of the Kiyora a bit. This Honda-designed concept was made to have a small eco-footprint and have great visibility (presumably to see all the trees you’re saving). The seats, as you can see, are also pretty interesting. The driver is in the middle at the front and the passengers are to the sides and back of the driver, meaning it seats three (but pretty comfortably). This car sort of reminds me of the Honda Fit, one of Hondas most popular models (if not the most popular right now). I like how the glass covers everything, though I imagine it’s a pain when they get dirty. Where are the windshield wipers??

Isuzu FC-12

In America, our buses are terrible. I hate them, lot. In fact, around most of the world, bus innovation has been lacking. So, it’s good to see Isuzu (which tends to do more big vehicle stuff, like trucks, buses, and so on) messing around with something like this. Although I’m not sure what they were thinking on this one (someone tell me, is this aerodynamic?) I like that it looks like some kind of robot bug from the future, so I’d get on / be eaten by one if I had the chance.

Nissan Land Glider

The Land Glider is a fully electric vehicle that… wait for it… leans into turns (kind of like a motorcycle). It’s meant to be driven around the city (so, maybe for your second car) and is full of futuristic insides. For example, the steering wheel isn’t actually attached to your wheels in any way (except via computers and wires). The Land Glider holds one person and is incredibly narrow.

If these started hitting the market I wonder how often you’d see people passing other cars by riding the lines on the road. I hate it when motorcyclists to that, freaks me out.

Whatever happens, I love this car’s interior. It’s like you get to drive a small, eco-friendly fighter jet around town. I don’t think I could stop making pew pew noises any time I drove this thing. Pew pew pew!

Japanese Concept Cars Of The Not-So-Distant Past

Although these modern concept cars and neat and all, there have been some really cool cars by these very same Japanese car manufacturers done a long time ago as well. In order to see where all this modern design came from, we have to look at some of the older stuff. Which era is more practical, I wonder? Here are some of my favorites.

Toyota EX-II (1969)

The EX-I was more of a normal car. This was it’s tiny, slower, electric powered little brother. I like how the little circular windows, though I don’t think I could handle how low to the ground it is.

Nissan Boga (1989)

The Boga was designed based off regular cars from the eighties, but tried to maximize interior space (and it shows). The doors would close automatically and the ventilation system was solar powered. To be honest, this is more advanced than most cars being released today, and I kind of like the design, despite how weird it is.

Mazda London Taxi (1993)

This was made with the Royal College of Art in London. It’s a taxi with only a single passenger seat because it was assuming that eventually London would create restrictions around being able to drive normal (bigger) cars. Although it’s hard to tell from this image, I’m guessing this car was tiny.

Honda Fuya-Jo (1999)

Isn’t 1999 a little too modern for a car like this? Fuya-Jo means “Sleepless City” – can you guess what type of person this car was targeting? That’s right, the party animal. It’s all about the excitement of the nightlife with this car… maybe? The dashboard resembles a DJ’s mixing desk and the steering wheel looks like a turntable. If a car like this doesn’t make you cool, I’m not sure what will.

Although tall, this car is low to the ground and is supposed to give youth the feeling of riding a skateboard, or something like that (so, I guess I’d be falling off this car all the time?). Despite the weird looks of this car and the turntable steering wheel, I kind of see where Honda was coming from on this one. Although this concept car was a big flop, you can see a lot of the good elements of the Fuya-Jo showing up in Totota’s Scion line. Boxy, low to the ground, square-shaped… I guess artists steal, right?

Toyota RV-2 (1972)

The RV-1? That’s so old school. The RV-2 is where the fun is at. Part sports car, part RV, and part transformer, this concept was attempting to capitalize on the popularity of campers. Just open up the back part and connect the pieces with (hopefully waterproof) fabric, and you’ve got yourself an RV… well, kind of.

For me, I’d just be too embarrassed to transform my car. I’ll just pack a tent in my trunk, thank you very much.

The Future Of Cars

It’s kind of interesting to look at all these concept cars and compare them to what actually happened. There’s a lot of bits and pieces taken from even the wackiest of cars, so you can’t discredit them totally.

It’s pretty obvious that Japanese cars are really heading towards even more eco-friendly vehicles. Totally electric is going to be the future, and I think we’ll see a lot of cars that only house one or two (or three, in several cases) people as well.

I’m also hoping for some drastic changes in car design. Cars are kind of boring, you know? Luckily, I think we’re starting to see a shift towards beauty in design rather than trying to make cars faster or more sleek or something else. Even the Prius was a big change back in the day, though now it’s pretty standard. New cars, like the Leaf, FJ-Cruiser, and plenty of cars you only see Japan are also quite different from normal car design standards, though I’d like to see more. I think if we can get out of the mindset of what a car looks like, we can come up with some pretty neat ideas. Not all of them will work, but I guess that’s why you have concept cars, ammiright?

So, what car was your favorite? Would you be caught dead driving any of these cars? For me, I think I like the P-Nut the best, though the Nissan Glide would be a sweet second-car.

[hr]

Did you know that there are way more Japanese concept cars than this? Like, a lot more. Check out Pink Tentacle and Japanese Concept Cars for way more. The ones above are just my favorites (and hopefully yours too?).