# Police cars and taxis in Japan? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 21, 2007, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-cars-and-taxis-in-japan/388885 "2007-01-21T21:30:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Dog80](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/6bbea6/32.png) [@Dog80](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dog80)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2007, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-cars-and-taxis-in-japan/388885/1 "2007-01-21T21:30:38Z")
From what I’ve seen in movies, they have some strange taxis and patrol cars over there. These are obviously new cars but they have this late 70s - early 80s retro styling. Anybody has more info on those cars? Why don’t they use “normal” cars? ---
**Author:** ![cerberus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/71e660/32.png) [@cerberus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cerberus)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2007, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-cars-and-taxis-in-japan/388885/2 "2007-01-21T22:07:35Z")
1. Modeling reality by sampling movies is a bad idea. 2. Ground vehicles in Japan, at least the ones at play in urban areas, need to be compact relative to the land yachts (Impala, Grand Marquis, Crown Victoria) used by the US. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Slant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c57346/32.png) [@Mr.Slant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Slant)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2007, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-cars-and-taxis-in-japan/388885/3 "2007-01-21T22:26:57Z")
Yeah, be careful with that. Sci-fi Channel had an in-house movie about a bunch of genetically engineered killer locusts last year. I watched it, and the lone cop in the movie was driving a Ford. With a stick. In Kansas. Except… it wasn’t a Crown Vic. Or a Taurus, or Mustang. In fact, this car has never been for sale in the US. Ever. It looked like a Ford-badged version of the Sterling sedan from the late 80’s, although I could be wrong. I’ll imagine it was a Ford of Europe vehicle. So, if you went by that, you’d be believing in complete rubbish. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Slant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c57346/32.png) [@Mr.Slant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Slant)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2007, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-cars-and-taxis-in-japan/388885/4 "2007-01-21T22:31:58Z")
Google turned up a few pictures. [http://gojapan.about.com/library/photo/bltokyo\_policecar1.htm](http://gojapan.about.com/library/photo/bltokyo_policecar1.htm) I see what you mean, kinda’ “newly manufactured 1983 Nissan Sentra” look to them. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2007, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-cars-and-taxis-in-japan/388885/5 "2007-01-21T22:42:29Z")
Would [this](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:TOYOTA_170_system_Crown_police_car.jpg) be what you’re talking about? ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Slant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c57346/32.png) [@Mr.Slant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Slant)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2007, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-cars-and-taxis-in-japan/388885/6 "2007-01-21T23:58:46Z")
Can’t be. The Toyota Crown isn’t a smallish car. It’s the same chassis as the top-of-the-line Lexus. ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2007, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-cars-and-taxis-in-japan/388885/7 "2007-01-22T01:56:44Z")
Most taxis in Japan use the [Toyota Comfort](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota_Comfort), [Toyota Crown Comfort](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota_Crown#Crown_Comfort_.28LXS10_.26_YXS10_Models:_1996_-_current.29) or [Nissan Crew](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nissan_Crew). I don’t understand the full genealogy, but I think Toyota Crown, Toyota Comfort, Toyota Crown Comfort, Toyota Crown Sedan and Toyota Crown Majesta are all different cars. ---
**Author:** ![jovan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/0ea827/32.png) [@jovan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jovan)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2007, 7:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-cars-and-taxis-in-japan/388885/8 "2007-01-22T07:06:29Z")
I think the rear-view mirrors positioned on the front of the hood contributes to this impression of “retro” styling. These, called “fender mirrors” in Japan, allow you to see into the dead angle of normal side mirrors. The use of fender mirrors, both on patrol cars and taxis seems to be declining. Common models used as patrol cars in Japan are the Toyota Crown, and Nissan Cedric and Skyline . ---
**Author:** ![jasonh300](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/46a35a/32.png) [@jasonh300](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jasonh300)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2007, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-cars-and-taxis-in-japan/388885/9 "2007-01-23T01:04:24Z")
[QUOTE=GorillaMan] Would [this](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:TOYOTA_170_system_Crown_police_car.jpg) be what you’re talking about? [/QUOTE] Cool, I didn’t know Toyota still made the Crown. That model has been around since the 50s. I don’t know if they were ever sold in the US. I notice that it has hood mounted turn signal indicators.