Yellow Plates in Okinawa

Kei Cars on Okinawa Streets

OKINAWA, Japan — You could probably guess that Kawaji Hiromiki, 44, is an avid fisher from the bright red boat strapped to the top of his van.

However, it might surprise you to see that his Honda Acty is barely any longer than the boat.

Kawaji Hiromiki poses with his fishing rod in front of his van

That’s because he owns a “Kei” — meaning “light” in Japanese — vehicle, which are smaller and have less powerful engines than regular cars. They are as they are easily identified through their yellow license plates with black lettering and are nicknamed “Yellow Plate Cars”.

Kei cars and trucks are extremely popular in Okinawa, where they make up 55% of all owned vehicles. Their cheap prices, lower taxes and fuel efficiency make it especially attractive in Okinawa, which has the highest child poverty rate in Japan, more than double of the Japanese average.

Kei cars come in all shapes and sizes, and are easily recognizable from their distinctive yellow plates. From Left: Daihatsu Mira e:S, Subaru Sambar, Honda S660, Daihatsu Tanto.

When he goes to sea, he attaches his boat on top of his Honda Acty van. “My van isn’t very big, so it’s easy to park the car when I go to Onna Village to fish,” he said.

He practices fishing with a type of lure called a jig and aims to catch greater amberjack fish at a depth of roughly 200m underwater. The largest fish he had caught was around 5kg.

He’s even constructed a shelf behind the driver’s seat so he can store all his fishing equipment and the fish he manages to catch.

Car parks have spaces that are designated solely for Kei cars. These lots are distinguished by the Japanese character “軽”, which means “light”. They are smaller in size, so only cars that fit the size restriction can be parked inside.

Kei cars are owned for leisure, work, and anything in between.

Owning a car is almost essential due to limited public transport. Okinawa only has one monorail line that serves just Naha City, a mere 3 percent of Okinawa Island.

A pink Daihatsu Move Latte leads a pack of other Kei cars.

However, Honda’s Director of Automobile Business Development Seisaku Nakaza, 44, says that: “Kei cars mostly aren’t exported overseas due to different regulations in other countries.”

A red Honda NBOX being customized in a workshop by two workers who are wiping it down before it gets rolled out to a new customer.

For a vehicle to be classified as a “Kei” car or truck, they have to meet size and engine regulations. They can only be up to 3.4m in length, 1.48 m in width, and 2m in height, and seat a maximum of just 4 people. Engines cannot exceed 660cc.

A blue Honda NBOX put through a car wash, where it first runs through an automated cleaning system before being manually wiped down and vacuumed by Honda staff.

Kei cars enjoy reduced tax and insurance costs in Japan. A regular car would be taxed at least 34,500 Yen per year, while a Kei car would face almost half that at 18,000 Yen per year. Kei cars normally have the cheapest insurance as well.

Without these benefits overseas, it would be less worthwhile for overseas consumers to consider buying a Kei car over a regular car.

Kei cars are not just popular for personal use. Kyohan Books, a book publishing company, fields 22 Subaru Sambar vans. They regularly deliver books and magazines to around 70 bookstores, over 600 convenience stores, 100 supermarkets, and 300 libraries across Okinawa Island, according to its President Maeshiro Hisanao.

A Kyohan Books General Manager poses in front of one of the company’s Subaru Sambar vans, adorned with its logo at the front. The vans can fit about 20 boxes of books inside. They have a maximum load of 350kg.

The Subaru Sambar was chosen for its excellent fuel economy. If the company had purchased a regular minivan such as the Subaru Justy, it could have consumed around 30% extra fuel.

The delivery vans don’t sport black plates with yellow numbers that are used for Kei commercial vehicles. Instead, they bear the usual yellow plates that you would see on passenger cars because their vans are also used to drive their staff around for stock takes and other purposes.

On the other hand, smaller businesses benefit too. Tetsuya Omine, 38, works for Tetra Project, a company which specializes in making local goods, like Shikuwasa (a local citrus fruit) drink and Jimami Tofu. He parked at a small road that leads to Kokusaidori, Okinawa’s “International Street”, while waiting to make a delivery.

“The car is easy to park on the street alongside shops, especially in crowded places like Kokusaidori,” he said.

Tetsuya Omine poses with a bottle of Shikuwasa juice in front of his Suzuki Every minivan. He can store up to 10 boxes of it stacked behind the driver’s seat and in the boot of the van.

Kei cars appeal to families too. Yamakawa Rimiko, a 60-year-old waitress, is bringing her granddaughter to an indoor amusement playground on a Sunday morning.

Yamakawa Rimiko and her granddaughter Yamakawa Mahiro in the parking lot right outside the indoor amusement playground

However, when she bought her Daihatsu Boon 10 years ago, it was to send her elderly mother to the hospital. After her mother passed away 3 years ago, she mainly uses the car to get to work and bring her 4-year-old granddaughter (pictured), and 8-year-old grandson around.

“It’s a cheaper option”, she says, “Most of the time, I’m only driving myself to work and back home.”

This makes it popular for students too. Masashi Inafuku, 21, a third-year student at the University of the Ryukyus, owns a Suzuki Hustler. His parents helped him to buy it brand-new when he was in his first year of university.

Like many other car makers in Okinawa, Suzuki’s most popular car model is a Kei car — the Spacia. Multiple Kei car models can be seen lined up at the Suzuki dealership in Chatan town.

His father owns a 7-seater minivan, while his mother also drives a Kei car of her own. They decided on getting him a new car because buying a second-hand car would incur maintenance fees, which “wouldn’t make sense because a Kei car is cheap”.

Masashi said: “Everyone has a Kei car, so I don’t need much more space for other people. Around 80% of my friends own a Kei car too.”