Once again, I am a little at a loss as to why the Alto (see js43) was carted off for scrap. But I do remember that we were plying our way on the 176 at least twice a week on the way to country classes, so the tinyness of the Suzuki was probably bothering Nadia. There was little doubt that a head-on (or an any-on actually) would have left us seriously dead. There was no protection in the car.
So we asked a friend of Stephanie's who had a kind of used car export firm (Gulliver's) to find us a slightly larger wagon. The choice of K-wagons was large and I hoped that our modest budget of 500,000 yen would secure one. A couple of weeks passed and around came the salesman - with a 1993 Mitsubishi RVR Sportsgear. It seemed monstrous compared to the Alto (though it was really only a small SUV) but we took it anyway. It proved to be a great car.
It had a large sliding door on the passenger side, 'move-anywhere' rear seats, an electric sunroof and very, very good driver vision. There were 22,000 kms on the clock and it was in beautiful condition, after 11 years! We took it on holidays and on many forays into the countryside around Sanda. It was the first car that Nadia ever drove in Japan. I think she still misses it.
The picture shows the RVR on duty(minus bull-bar) in the summer of 2006 on a trip to the Tango-Hanto Peninsula, a popular spot on Kyoto's northern Sea Of Japan fringe. Tom is sleeping in the baby seat in the back. In the rear of the shot is a classic staple of country Japan - a K-ute. Get behind one of those and you nearly doubled your journey time! Honto ni!
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