My husband and I have been discussing to buy a car. It will be a first in 15 years of marriage.
We respectively had a car at some point before getting married, but since we met we have been living in Amsterdam, New York and Tokyo, in the middle of the city where owning a car is not a necessity. On the occasions that we would take trips outside the city, we would rent a car, which conveniently requires no maintenance, parking space or insurance.
Now that we are both getting to certain age, metropolitan events and night life are nice too, but we often spend relaxing weekends visiting sightseeing spots and onsen (hot spring) sites outside of the city. In which case, the scope of activity is limited by using only trains and buses, and it would seem having a car is useful to expand our mobility and freedom.
So my husband put together a list of car brands that can be purchased in Japan, and I looked through each company website to check the car lineup. The first thought I had was, “There’s no car-shaped car!” What do I mean by car-shaped car…? I guess the so called sedan and coupe, which when I was a student was the mainstream. However, SUVs and wagons are more popular nowadays, it seems!
For the time-being, we are thinking to buy a used car. I would like to buy a Japanese car, maybe something like Celica (Toyota) or Farilady (Nissan) or Skyline (Nissan), which I used to dream of. And since for me, it will be the first car I will drive after 10 years of blank, maybe best to wait to get a new car until a bit later….