Shortly after setting off from Nissan’s global headquarters in Yokohoma, I pass a children’s museum dedicated to the hugely popular cartoon character Anpanman, of whom there is an enormous statue outside. Yet somehow a superhero with a head made from a red bean paste-filled pastry isn’t as cute as the car I’m driving.
That’s because I’m behind the wheel of a Nissan Sakura, a tiny and boxy EV built to Japan’s kei car regulations for affordable entry-level vehicles. And just like Anpanman, while kei cars are big in Japan, the rest of the world can only really look on in a mix of confusion and envy.