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The story
A thread titled “Do you seriously not need your own car?” appeared on 5ch’s Newsspeed VIP board, kicking off a debate that began with the question of whether city-dwelling singles even need a car. The discussion mixed economic arguments with real-life perspectives — from calls to raise vehicle tax as a “tax on luxury goods,” to claims that Toyota’s domestic sales amount to a net loss for Japan once imported raw materials are factored in, to a debate over the safety of kei (mini) cars. Practical talk about whether leasing or buying is the better deal also came up, and the thread ended up highlighting how differences in where and how people live shape opinions on whether a car is truly necessary.
What people said
while the 'elite citizens' (jōkyū kokumin — slang for the privileged upper class) living it up in the countryside should be taxed more.
What's 'normal' for you isn't my problem.
How few Tokyoites actually realize that about themselves.
All you're buying is a single bento box anyway.
Four of us are packed together in a cramped apartment barely 50㎡.
That's your own choice, live like that on your own then.
Isn't 50㎡ actually not that cramped though?
Since the raw materials are imported, domestic demand for cars is pure net loss, right?
Doesn't mean anything unless you're selling overseas.
Toyota does sell overseas —
they actually sell more cars abroad than they do domestically in Japan.
So it's just: loss domestically, profit overseas, net profit overall.
If domestic demand shrinks, the overseas profit balloons even more.
Who cares about your opinion.
It's weird that 'regular' cars are considered the norm.
If anything, kei cars are the ones we don't need.
The fact they crumple and catch fire that easily says there's a problem with kei car safety standards.
Kei cars are 'light' — turns out so is the weight of your life in one. (a pun on kei/軽, meaning "light")
No thanks.
Commuting every day in a car that rides like garbage sounds like hell.
a lot of people don't realize that Toyota's domestic profit is essentially the same thing as Uniqlo's, Nitori's, or Daiso's profit.
Telling me to 'realize' your personal opinion is a stretch…
way too dumb.
What do you mean?
Exactly what I wrote.
Since most of the raw materials are imported and the cars run on imported fuel, selling cars domestically is basically the same as Uniqlo, Nitori, or Daiso importing goods from overseas and selling them here.
The company books a profit and shareholders benefit, but for Japan as a country, it's simply a net loss.
By that logic, food works the same way — are you okay with that too?
So what?
I read Re: #53 and figured, okay, that's one way to look at it.
If it's wrong, tell me where.
a rear-engine, rear-wheel-drive two-seater called the TT2 — what do you all think?
And it's got a Subaru-built flat-four engine too! Fancy!!
The trim is the TC Professional.
The trim is the TC Professional.
>that's one way to look at it
Haha, you just admitted it's your own opinion.
>if it's wrong
Nobody's talking about whether it's right or wrong here
I already said it's an 'opinion.'
Can you even read Japanese?
So you're saying you can't tell if it's right or wrong?
Wrong: 'can't tell.'
Right: 'that's not even what's being discussed' — and an opinion isn't the kind of thing that's right or wrong in the first place.
I'm not your Japanese teacher.
This isn't a Japanese-language issue, it's economics.
No, this is a Japanese-language issue.
Firing back a groggy 'you can't tell, right?' at something that already said 'Wrong: can't tell' is a pure reading-comprehension problem —
you clearly don't understand what 'Wrong: can't tell' even means.
This isn't about the Japanese language.
Guess you can't read Re: #95.
If you're buying to show off, go ahead and keep doing that — it drives progress in cars.
Thanks for that.
Not everyone sells theirs off after just a few years, you know.
Leasing ends up costing more in total though.
If you're keeping it for like 10 years, buying works out cheaper.
Who actually keeps a car for 10 years?
I never have, and nobody around me has either.
It lasts, so yeah, I keep mine for 10 years.
One of my cars I've had for 20 years.
Seriously cuts down on how much money you spend on cars.
Background and Key Points of This Topic
Vehicle tax is levied based on engine displacement, and the argument that “if cars are a luxury, taxes should go up” is nothing new. But the thread’s claim that “Toyota’s domestic sales amount to a net loss for the country once imported raw materials are included” oversimplifies the trade balance and hasn’t been economically verified. It’s true that Toyota sells more cars overseas than domestically, but concluding from that alone that domestic demand equals a net loss is a logical leap. As for the crash safety of kei cars, current models do meet crash safety standards, so “crumple and catch fire” is an exaggeration — though it’s worth noting that, due to their smaller body size, kei cars genuinely do have less crumple space to absorb impact. The thread started from the practical question of whether a car is really needed for city living, but in the later half it drifted into exchanges that dressed themselves up as economic debate while really just mocking other posters, with the bickering overshadowing the substance.
※This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Newsspeed VIP) thread “Do you seriously not need your own car?.”
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