Wanna ride Hustler?

One of the things my American husband thinks is so funny here in Japan are the names of cars. As a Japan native, I had never even paid attention to them. That is until he mentioned how funny some of them sound. 

One day, we were driving in town and he noticed the car in front of us. It was a model called “Hustler.” He saw the name on the back of the car and was instantly amused. “Really? That’s the name of the car?” He kept giggling and started checking other car names, too. Here are some of the names that he found so weird and funny: Hustler, Noah, Harrier, Insight, Freed….there is even an Isis too. 

”Ha! I didn't even notice.” I said. I really didn’t! It’s like some Kanji (Chinese/Japanese characters) tattoos I saw while I was in the U.S.A. My husband wouldn’t notice what’s on the arm of a passer-by, but I thought some were so funny (you can Google it and see what comes up.)

Here in Japan, you have to have your car inspected every couple of years. Mine had one last September. While my car was at the auto maintenance garage for a few days, they provided me with a loaner car. It was Hustler! I couldn’t wait to show it to my husband, thinking “maybe I should tell him that I bought a new car because he loves the name so much?” It’s a mini car but as I started driving, it wasn’t too bad. We enjoyed riding a Hustler for the few days.

As I was writing this, I thought to visit the Hustler website (just for fun.) The first thing I saw was 「ハスラー ワンダラー 誕生！」”(Introducing) Hustler One-Dollar?” That’s another funny name! Found out, it was “Wanderer” not “One-Dollar”. Japanese writing is the same for both. I’m sure my husband will laugh either way.