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> feel the Uber service itself has a sort of a 'premium' feeling around it in Japan, with the cars/staff/pricing being higher-class than the run-of-the-mill tax
by ginko 7y ago
> feel the Uber service itself has a sort of a 'premium' feeling around it in Japan, with the cars/staff/pricing being higher-class than the run-of-the-mill taxis you can hail.
Isn't the average Japanese taxi some big Toyota Crown sedan already? How much more premium than that can you go?
- latch 7y agoI don't know anything about cars, but I'm pretty sure most taxis in Tokyo are the smaller variant, the Toyota Comfort. I'd describe them as comparable to most taxis (maybe cleaner than average + the automatic doors)
- citruspi 7y ago> Isn't the average Japanese taxi some big Toyota Crown sedan already? How much more premium than that can you go? Toyota Century :) https://www.wsj.com/articles/japans-new-emperor-picks-his-ridean-old-school-toyota-11556366401 https://www.wsj.com/articles/japans-new-emperor-picks-his-ri... Edit: Super short TL;DR from the article > Introduced in 1967, the Century isn’t for the flashy or hasty. Prospective customers can wait months because Toyota hand-builds each one. Background checks ensure the buyer is of an appropriate caliber, and not a member of an “antisocial organization”—a Japanese euphemism for the yakuza crime syndicates. It's only sold in Japan. Edit 2: Some more information courtesy of Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota_Century https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota_Century
- roystonvassey 7y agoWow. That’s a fine looking car.
- jessaustin 7y agoAre we sure that's the same car used for taxis?
- kalleboo 7y agoHe's answering the question "How much more premium than that can you go"
- mlacks 7y agoIt’s not the Century, it’s the Comfort. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota_Comfort https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota_Comfort The Century was designed for CEOs and heads of state, the Comfort was designed as a general purpose Taxi.
- dmix 7y agoI love that quote about Yakuza. It’s so Japanese. Reminds me of mobsters in America driving Cadillac’s and how much that probably helped sales. I know my dad loved watching mob movies and bought a Cadillac in the 90s that was straight out of the movies. I’m curious if there was a badass motivation there similar to middle class suburbanites owning a Harley style motorcycle.
- cattlefarmer 7y agoThose background checks don't seem to be working. Lots of 'yankees' running around in pimped up centuries. https://www.google.com/search?q=%E3%83%A4%E3%83%B3%E3%82%AD%E3%83%BC%E3%80%80%E3%82%BB%E3%83%B3%E3%83%81%E3%83%A5%E3%83%AA%E3%83%BC https://www.google.com/search?q=%E3%83%A4%E3%83%B3%E3%82%AD%...
- ekianjo 7y ago> some big Toyota Crown sedan already No, it's not that great nor that comfortable, but most of the time a Taxi ride is less than 10 minutes so it does not matter very much.
- NikolaNovak 7y ago>>How much more premium than that can you go? Hmmm; From my limited time in Japan / Tokyo, almost all the cars were Toyota Comforts [1]. I have not entered in a more basic and rudimentary vehicle in 25 years. I mean, it's _fine_. Whatever. Gets you from point A to point B. You get a feeling it'll likely do so reliably, and if not, virtually everything might be fixable with a hammer. But I wouldn't have called it premium... [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota_Comfort https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota_Comfort P.S. The "Automatic rear doors", at least in the versions I've been in, is basically a string/lever that goes from driver to the rear door. Again, it _works_, but when I hear "Japan" and "Automatic", my mind conjures a rather different picture. However, that was true of much of my personal experience in Japan - pragmatic and reliable automation, over fancy image. And cassette tapes everywhere... :P