33564


In Volume 7 of Hidamari Sketch, the girls decide to play The Game of Life.
They're bored with the generic jobs and events in the regular game, so they
decide to customize their copy of the game using their art skills and
creativity.

The first thing Yuno does is paint the license plate on her car game piece
yellow, saying it's because the car is a light vehicle.

[![the panel where it goes
down](https://i.stack.imgur.com/3kVaAl.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/3kVaAl.png)

> Nori: What are you painting?  
>  Yuno: I changed the license plate to yellow to indicate that my car is a
> light vehicle. ♡  
>  Nori: You have a very conservative life from the start...

What is she talking about? Why did she do this?


CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-06-06T05:53:35.813
33562
2016-06-06T06:34:33.713
7579
question
culture hidamari-sketch
Why does Yuno paint her license plate yellow?


In Japan, the color schemes used by license plates are standardized at a
national level. Plates with black text on a yellow background are used for
"light vehicles" (sometimes glossed in English as " _kei_ car" from 軽 _kei_
"light"). For example:

[![a light vehicle's license
plate](https://i.stack.imgur.com/sCgVu.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/sCgVu.png)

A three- or four-wheeled vehicle is deemed a "light vehicle" if its engine
displacement is 660 cc or less and meets a few size and weight restrictions.

I don't know much about cars, but it seems that 660 cc is quite small. The
five [top-selling cars in the U.S. as of January
2016](http://www.goodcarbadcar.net/2016/02/usa-best-selling-cars-
january-2016-sales-figures.html) were the Toyota Camry (2500+ cc), Honda Civic
(1500+ cc), Toyota Corolla (1800+ cc), Nissan Altima (2500+ cc), and Honda
Accord (2400+ cc). And these are all reasonably-sized sedans, not Hummer-esque
monstrosities (6000+ cc).

These cars are fairly popular in Japan ([as of Mar
2015](http://www.zenkeijikyo.or.jp/statistics/ken_share/1503ken_share4.htm),
39% of all vehicles in Japan were light vehicles; this is up from 26% [in
1998](http://www.zenkeijikyo.or.jp/statistics/ken_share/9803ken_share4.htm)),
for reasons apparently having to do with how Japan taxes and regulates
vehicles. They also sell reasonably well in South/Southeast Asia.

I would agree with Nori that light vehicles are conservative, primarily
because they're often [rather boxy and
unattractive](https://www.google.com/search?q=%E8%BB%BD%E8%87%AA%E5%8B%95%E8%BB%8A&tbm=isch)
(because of the size restrictions) and because they accelerate slowly and
generally have poor "performance" (because of the small engine). They seem to
have many benefits, especially in urban environments (easier parking and
maneuvering; lower taxes and cheaper insurance; better gas mileage; and
apparently [there's less bureaucracy involved in registering
one](https://www.kuruvia.com/articles/knowledges/17/)). But you're not going
to impress almost anyone with a light vehicle.

* * *

(Semi-related plug: if the minutiae of Japanese motorcycles interests you,
check out _Bakuon!!_ , which is basically _Top Gear_ , except with cute girls
riding cute motorcycles.)


CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-06-06T06:34:33.713
33564
2016-06-06T06:34:33.713
1908
33562
answer