People in Japan are not traditionally big fans of old/used items. This applies to pretty much everything, and it's gotten to the point that I'm shocked to see a car as ancient as my 1993 Honda Civic back home. Rarely do I see a car that's been all banged up. No faded or chipped paint jobs. No major rust damage that leaves the rust looking like it's the only thing holding the car together. Rarely even a dent, really.
A fellow ALT (Assistant Language Teacher), Peter, was going to sell me his car, before I decided to pass on it. I believe it was a 1994 Toyota Corolla hatchback. It had about 84,000 kilometers on it. He was asking the equivalant of about $250. There was only one catch, but it still didn't up the cost much. In Japan, they have to pay something called shaken on their cars every few years. It's basically a really elaborate emissions test (a mechanic actually looks the car over) and road tax-type thing. The older the car is, the higher the shaken and this one would have been about $1,000 or so. Still, that's a good deal for that car.
One day, while riding about on my old bike, I stopped at a used car dealership on a whim, just to check the prices. I saw a Honda Civic that must have been about a 2000 or 2001, with about 38,000 kilometers, going for under $6,000. I payed more than that for my '93 Civic when it was seven or eight years old and had 74,000 miles, and I got a good deal! It's really crazy. When I tell folks I own a '93 Civic with almost 100,000 miles, they're shocked, and when I tell them what I payed, they usually have to pull their jaws up off them floor. I try to explain that people in America drive their cars for a long time, and that Honda and Toyota have very good reputations in America, so people will pay more for them, but they still don't fully follow that line of thinking.
One teacher told me that he thinks the average Japanese person/family gets a new car every five years or so. When asked if they lease or anything, he said no, that they like to own their cars. I was amazed. To top it all off, they actually have to pay to scrap old cars, appliances, etc. so if they can't sell the car (rice cooker, washing machine, etc.), it's still more cost effective for them to just give it to someone who's willing to take it. For all the efficiency that truly does exist in this country, there are areas where they seem to be blatantly lacking, and this is one of them. However, this makes for some great deals for we foreigners, if we look around a little, not just for cars, but lots of appliances and things.
Fast and...furious?
Not only are there very few old cars around, the after-market modification scene is alive and kicking in Japan. Seriously, they're almost like Corvettes in Boise--you can hardly travel for 5 or 10 minutes without seeing at least one car that's been tinkered with. I know it's pretty big in America too (even Boise), but they take it to new heights here. Sometimes it's as simple as an older station wagon that's been graced(?) with a nice set of chrome rims (the main "old-ish" cars I've seen have been a few station wagons that are roaming around--and even these are probably from the early '90's), or a basic Civic or Integra with a rumbling spoiler, there's something making its presence felt everywhere. My favorite though, are the vans. Vans here are great! They go completely all-out, adding HUGE front bumpers (seriously, I saw one in person that had to be a foot deep, and I've seen some in pictures that looked longer), "fancy" spoilers, blue-tinted headlights, nice rims, side molding to give it that "lowered" look if they haven't actually lowered it, and, my favorite, they commonly have these murals painted on the sides. But not just any murals, these are pastel-toned murals of cartoony things, like Pokemon. I'll try to post some pics sometime, but until I can, if you check out this site called beaterz.com and roam around for a bit, you'll probably find a few shots. One day, I went to the beach with some other ALTs and I actually saw one of these vans in person. I cracked me up. And of course they have the more standard Civics, Integras, Imprezas, Lancers, etc. but those are kind of boring compared to the vans.