MariCar - Reality Reality
I'm a strong proponent of taking the local culture whenever I visit a place....well really only when it's convenient or interesting to me but fortunately this one really ticks both of those boxes.
What says Japan more than Nintendo??? Mario Kart. I can remember back a couple of years ago when I was walking through Shibuya and saw a gang of go carts pulling up to the stop light. Already pretty cool and as an added bonus they were all dressed as characters from Mario Kart!
I knew at the point that it was something I wanted to do. I then promptly forgot about it until the next time I was in Japan and saw the same thing. Then, I did a little research and saw that you had to have an international driving permit.
The series of events where I came to Tokyo, saw maricar people and then remembered I wanted to do it happened several more times. Each time I would forget about it before my next trip and would come back without an international driving permit. Fast forward to 2018...
My dad was going to come with us to Japan and we were thinking of things to show him...eureka!!! I finally remembered and planned. We went to AAA and got our international driving permits.
Booking the whole thing was super simple and painless. The interface using FaceBook Messenger was great and the folks there were super helpful.
So what to expect? Well, the folks at MariCAR are pretty chill and relaxed. We went to the one in Tokyo Bay and it was kind of a long way from where we were staying...probably would have been better off to choose one that was closer. They do however have excellent directions posted on their website on how to get to the Tokyo Bay shop.
Once there, they checked us in pretty quickly. They have lots of options that can be added to your trip. We elected to get an action camera to document the journey. The rates for the rental were pretty reasonable and the cost of the memory card wasn't too crazy either.
Once we got checked in and paid, we got to go upstairs and pick out our costumes. The collection of costumes we got to choose from was pretty extensive. They've also got lockers where you can put things that are too big to take with you. The carts do have a small zipper pocket/pouch where you can store the necessities (think passport, wallet, cell phone; don't think dslr).
After suiting up and stashing our stuff, we headed back downstairs where we had a brief introduction to the carts. If I'm honest, I was a bit surprised that there was not any safety introduction. They actually seem to have a pretty cavalier approach to it all. They also told us they have had accidents (NOTE; You can get insurance for the Cart for a small fee) and essentially told everyone to listen to the guide. I kind of think there are not many places where this activity could work. Probably the only place this can work is in Japan. Anywhere else and I'm pretty sure it would result in a lot of accidents and probably lots of injured drivers....but in Japan, it works. People are so courteous here and most people seem amused instead of annoyed by the having all of these karts on the road.
So what about the Karts??? If I'm honest, I wasn't too impressed. They aren't slow but they aren't very fast either. This isn't really a concern for me though. The biggest disappointment was that my Kart broke down shortly after we left the shop. It just died on me. This surely provided an amusing scene for the flagman who was at a construction zone there. Superman (yep that was my costume) is riding in a go-kart that dies and is coasting from the middle lane to the side of the road while some large trucks are coming up behind me. I tried to restart several times and no luck. I had to get out push my Kart to the side of the road and then try to restart a couple of more times. Finally, it restarted and I was off...the flagman had quite the grin on his face at this point in time.
At this point, I didn't have any way to contact the group which was out of sight by now. They didn't immediately notice that I had disappeared. I decided to head down the road for a bit before turning around and heading back to the shop. Luckily, they had noticed very quickly that I was not with them and they had pulled over to try and figure out where I was. Once we were back together, the guide made an adjustment to the carts fuel in-take and we were off.
The rest of the trip was pretty uneventful and a blast. It was pretty entertaining to ride around Tokyo in Karts and we got to stop, get out of the Karts and check out a nice scenic viewpoint. While doing this, we felt like celebrities because everyone there wanted to get there pictures taken with us since we were dressed up in costumes.
The whole experience was fun and worth the money. I'd definitely recommend folks give it a try. If you have a blog and promise to post a review, they'll even give you a reduced rate. FYI...I think if you just ask them for the discount, they'll give it to you.
- Peace
Matt
