Euro imports are hot in Japon. A symbol of wealth. The grass is greener. You get the picture. Fees and taxes involved for importing vehicles (official or otherwise) are ludicrously high.
This is probably the worst case: The least expensive Caterham, Roadsport, costs Japanese buyers ¥4.2 mill (~29,000 British pounds) vs. 17,795 UK domestic price tag. Plenty of other examples but I guess the opposite is true too except in the US, where cars have to be priced low to begin to compete. The point is these imports always underlie a bit of a showoff, especially considering Japanese cars are way more reliable, often more efficient.
Aston Martin, being a UK manufacturer, has their cars steered from the right side by default, which is also true in Japan. But don't be surprised you'll find most of them here equipped with steering column on the left, an irrefutable fact these drivers prefer form over function. Left-hand-drives make more flamboyant imports, hence a better platform for showing off of wealth. Calling them retards would be an insult to the mentally insufficient community, err... fucktards!
You may think "What's the big deal?" Well for one, simple tasks like paying tolls (however a solution, ETC) suck. Drivers of LHD vehicles have to get out of their cars at many toll gates, parking lots, drive thrus to go around.
But to me the biggest qualms are
1) you can't pass slower traffic safely on the right due to reduced visibility
2) finding any decent selection of used performance RHD imports
3) shitty resale value of proper RHDs because of lesser desirability
4) suffering the worst inconvenience for the least bit of "benefit"
Common sense dictates personally I find LHDs much less annoying (in Japan) as long as the car's home country doesn't make RHD versions or they are hard to come by.
As a matter of principle, this makes my skin crawl.
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The other day I was stuck behind a c-r-a-w-l-i-n-h AMG tricked out Benz in the ETC lane. Like seriously, 10km/h. I was a bit late to get where I was going and already pissed at him for running a red at the intersection of the on-ramp thus getting in front of me....
So I honked at him.
He must have floored it, resulting in him smashing through the ETC gates. Greeeeattt. Now even more late for work as he stopped cold and decided it better to block all the traffic piling up rather than pull over to the side.
Not long after (less than a minute) grandpa came out a heart-attack-inducing speed to wave him through and over to the side allowing all us other ETC'ers to impatiently get through.
Not sure if I should feel bad for the Benz or not.
But, I finally got to see what happens when the gates don't open.
They have a spring-loaded release mechanism that allows them to swing forward and lock in-place open.
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