Active Travel Japan founder Daniel Moore shares how the humble kei truck, gaining traction in the US, has helped him run his business and embrace his identity. Published on By Growing up in Japan and attending public school as a white kid, I stuck out. I see-sawed between attempting to fit in and accepting my fate, always wishing I could have been more "normal.
" Even though I grew up in Japan and spoke Japanese, my quest to fit in was inevitably futile. As an adult, besides being fun to drive, buying a kei truck feels like the culmination of the acceptance of my two worlds: an acknowledgment that I will always stand out in Japan and an appreciation of my difference. Here's my story through the windshield of a kei truck.
What is a kei truck? According to Wikipedia, it is "a mini truck, a type of pickup truck available in rear-wheel drive or four-wheel drive versions, built to satisfy the Japanese (軽自動車, 'light vehicle') statutory class." More succinctly, the kei truck represents the Japanese countryside. You are not a real Japanese farmer unless you own one.
Like pickup trucks in the United States, kei truck owners are a blue-collar, down-to-earth, working-class side of Japan. They wake up early, get it done, and put food on the table (minus the guns, religion, and gas-guzzling monster trucks. But with, perhaps unsurprisingly, the same support of right-wing politics).
The kei truck is cheap, functional, minimalist, runs forever, gets incredible gas mileage, and would b.