Random Japan

Crazy-looking car is basically one giant airbag, will appear at Tokyo Motor Show next week

Mike

If you saw this car on the street, you’d half expect a comically large number of clowns to come piling out of it. But it turns out despite its Looney Tunes-esque look, there’s a noble—if somewhat bizarre—concept behind this new car from Toyoda Gosei.

This is the “Flesby,” a new concept car that Toyoda Gosei will display at the 2015 Tokyo Motor Show next week, with the “concept” being essentially that the entire outer body of the car is one gigantic airbag. Let’s take a look.

Toyoda Gosei says the Flesby is designed with a large number of safety features that will protect both the driver of the miniature vehicle, as well as any pedestrians unfortunate enough to find themselves in the cartoonish car’s path.

STATS

• 143,000: Number of vehicles Honda has recalled in the U.S. due to a “software problem that could cause the front wheels to lock up”
• ¥300,000: Subsidy offered by the health ministry to companies that enroll in a program to promote women in the workplace
• 0: Number of businesses that have applied for the subsidy since it began last year

WILD THINGS

• An animal believed to be a raccoon ran amok in Akihabara, injuring two cops and a passerby and “forcing the Tokyo Fire Department to mobilize an aerial ladder truck.”
• Police in Hyogo say a female scam artist placed 7,000 calls to 1,200 bakeries in 30 prefectures to tell them she found a hair in one of their cakes.
• Officials at the education ministry say elementary school students were involved in a record-high number of violent incidents last year.
• Novelty manufacturer Thanko has unveiled an umbrella that doubles as a makeshift seating device.

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Japan to allow hearing aid-dependent persons to drive taxis, buses

TOKYO —

The National Police Agency on Thursday released a plan to allow hearing aid-dependent persons to obtain a license required for driving taxis and buses in Japan.

The agency will revise the ordinance of the road traffic law, which will be open to public comments until Nov 21 before taking effect on April 1.

“We have made a step forward in expanding the occupational field for hearing-impaired people,” said Masashi Matsumoto, director at the Japanese Federation of the Deaf, in welcoming the plan.