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Diminutive and slow, with a charmingly outdated look, so-called Kei trucks are completely out of sync with the American truck and SUV market. In many states, in fact, theyre not allowed on highways or even public roads in general. Yet these distinctly oddball, humble, and un-macho vehiclesthink of them as the anti-Cybertruckare having a moment. U.S. sales of the idiosyncratic Japanese trucks, while severely constrained by regulatory and other factors, have reportedly tripled since 2018 to about 7,500 a year, drawing outsize attention (and social media love) precisely because theyre everything a normal truck isnt. Kei, which rhymes with play, is not a brand but a shortening of the Japanese term kei-jidsha (light vehicle) for a regulatory vehicle class with specific size and engine restrictions. The mini trucks, vans, and cars are an established market niche in Japan, sold by auto brands including Honda, Toyota, and Nissan. Typically a Kei truck, with a small two-seat cab and flat cargo bed, is a little more than 11 feet long and less than 5 feet wide, running a three- or four-cylinder engine comparable to that of a motorcycle. By contrast, a Ford Super Duty F-250 King Ranch with a four-door crew cab is more than 20 feet long and 6 feet widean example typical of broader trends toward bigger and more powerful trucks. [Photo: ferrantraite/Getty Images] Among the many reasons for this supersizing is that its simply where consumer demand has led. But inevitably, as trucks have become more imposingand arguably more similarsome consumers want something different. If the Cybertruck tried to meet that interest with a distinctly head-snapping sci-fi menace connoting Mad Max, Kei trucks offer the opposite. Frill-free and wee, they look inviting, adorable, and fun, less a mighty machine than a conversation-starting toy. Theres no machismo or hostility or toxicity within this community, the founder of a Kei fan group recently told The New York Times. We dont go out and street race, because all of our cars are slow as hell. [Photo: Paul Esch-Laurent/Unsplash] If the appeal is partly aesthetic, it also seems to be a response to a kind of functionality bloat in mainstream trucks, which are capable of carrying huge loads over onerous terrainbut in truth are seldom used to haul more than a few two-by-fours from a suburban Home Depot. A typical new truck runs well over $50,000; a Kei can cost less than $10,000 and can easily handle routine truck tasks. (A similar ethos animates low-frills two-door EV trucks from Jeff Bezos-backed startup Slate Auto, due next year.) But thats about as far as the logical case for a Kei goes. A key factor behind that retro look is that the Kei vehicles one is likely to see in America are actually quite old. The Kei trucks currently produced for the Japanese market dont meet U.S. import safety and environmental performance standards; they can ship to the U.S. only as antiques, at least 25 years old. The steering wheel is on the right. Even fans admit that driving them in American-car traffic can be harrowing. Although Texas and Colorado have recently allowed the vehicles onto public roads, New York and California are among the many states that dont. [Photo: FC] In other words, it takes a certain personalitymotivated by more than practicality aloneto join the Kei nation. Actual owner demographic data is hard to come by, but it seems to owe less to factors like generational cohort than a kind of individual spirit: Consistent with generations of car-fanatic culture, owners of Keis frequently customize their vehicles and love to share anecdotes about curious looks and What the heck is that? inquiries. In a way, Kei vehicles are a rolling rebuke, or at least critique, of contemporary truck design. And after all, part of the fun of resisting traditional conspicuous consumption is with weird conspicuous consumption. But of course the Kei-truck faithful can, and maybe prefer to, ground their fandom and their critiques in matters of function. For example, despite their modest footprint, most Kei trucks have a 6-foot bedmatching a typical Toyota Tacoma or Ford Rangera point made in pictures posted on a Kei Subreddit showing one of the toylike vehicles dwarfe by a Cybertruck, asking: Guess which one has a longer bed? For all the Cybertrucks flashy angles and materials, the comical-looking Kei vehicle appeared to be the winner. And to the Kei enthusiast, making a point about form is a big part of the tiny trucks function.
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E-Commerce
In the North Atlantic Ocean, halfway between Iceland and Norway, a small island community is testing an imaginative solution to overtourism: self-navigating cars. The Faroe Islands, an archipelago with a 2-to-1 ratio of sheep to humans, are known for their iconic views. Theres the cascading Múlafossur waterfall; the westernmost island of Mykines, home to thousands of puffins; and the Srvágsvatn, also known as the lake above the ocean. But while these three sites are the islands’ main tourist attractions, a new campaign from the tourism agency Visit Faroe Islands claims that theyre also the source of some significant problems. [Photo: courtesy Visit Faroe Islands] Tourists gather around the same iconic hot spots, driven by algorithms and social media trends that create a closed ecosystem where images from popular places attract even more people to those very locations, the agencys website reads. The result is overtourism and predictable experiences. Overtourism has become an increasing concern for popular vacation destinations in the post-pandemic years, as an overwhelming influx of visitors to Instagrammable hot spots puts pressure on local infrastructure and communities. The trend has sparked protests in Venice, Italy; Barcelona; the Canary Islands off the coast of Africa; and Kyoto, Japan, among others. Cities in Italy, Spain, and Greece have taken to implementing tourist taxes in an effort to curb the problem, and must-see destinations like the Louvre have even decided to redesign to accommodate greater foot traffic. This month, Visit Faroe Islands is piloting a less-aggressive approach to overtourism. Through a collaboration with 62N car rental, the agency is offering an experience called the Auto Odyssey, a series of self-navigating itineraries that guide tourists to lesser-known locations across the islands in an effort to reduce the strain on local hot spots. [Photo: courtesy Visit Faroe Islands] An itinerary designed for spontaneityand tourist flow In a new campaign video, Visit Faroe Islands lays out its pitch for Auto Odyssey: Even in one of the most secluded places on Earth, the Faroe Islands, the tourists flock to the same places to take a picture, the video starts. The solution? Self-navigating car rental. If you want this car, you have to accept that the car decides where you go, no matter what, the video continues. In return for embracing this unpredictability, this car will take you to places few have been before you. [Photo: courtesy Visit Faroe Islands] When visitors choose to rent a car from 62N, they can opt into the Auto Odyssey program for free. Once inside the vehicle, travelers scan a QR code that activates turn-by-turn navigation on their phone, with a curated set of four to six stops over the course of three to six hours. The whole experience is designed for maximum spontaneity, as travelers destinations become clear only once theyve arrived, and the navigation illuminates just one section of the journey at a time. Along the way, the system provides local stories tied to each place. [Photo: courtesy Visit Faroe Islands] “The Visit Faroe Islands team pulled from personal knowledge and sat down together to curate the routes and feature places that we like to visit ourselves,” says Súsanna E. Srensen, marketing manager of leisure and PR at the tourist board. We selected places e know are scenic or interesting, yet dont get a lot of attention. It is not about identifying a new scenic hot spot but more so to show visitors unexpected places. We want to encourage them to take in the beauty and the silence of the place.” Possible destinations include a roadside stand serving fish and chips; one of the oldest turf-roofed wooden churches on the islands; a hiking trail through dramatic fjords; and a lake tucked between steep cliffs. The system comes preprogrammed with 30 different itineraries, and is designed to ensure that all the rental cars on the road are headed on separate paths, keeping overcrowding to a minimum. [Photo: courtesy Visit Faroe Islands] In a press release, Guri Hjgaard, CEO of Visit Faroe Islands, explained that Auto Odyssey is the agencys way of exploring how technology and creativity could offer a new way for travelers to discover the Faroes. The concept is certainly a long way off from solving Europes larger overtourism problem, given that its designed for a comparatively small location that relies on travel by car. Further, the Auto Odyssey program runs on the honor systemit has no way of actually stopping a traveler from charting their own course. Still, it offers a fascinating case study into how the design of a travel itinerary might help cities guide and redirect the flow of daily visitors. This is a more thoughtful kind of journey, designed to both protect whats most beloved and reveal spots often overlooked, Hjgaard said. With this initiative, we hope to lead by example, demonstrating how destinations can embrace innovation to spread tourism more responsibly and meaningfully.
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E-Commerce
“Shhhh,” Helena Bonham Carter is whispering in my ear. “Let me tell you a story, from long, long ago.” I am lying on a mattress in a wallpapered bedroom that seems plucked from the 1990s. There are Keith Haring drawings, Tori Amos posters, and a shelf-full of teddy bears. Bonham Carter’s voice, coming in through a headset, is talking about a princess named Viola. Her voicespectral, beguilingis about to guide me through a dizzying dreamscape of mazes and dark corridors, and its all part of a spectacular new show by Punchdrunk. Until now, the British theater company has been known for its highly immersive productions like Sleep No More and The Burnt City. A Punchdrunk performance typically encourages spectators to roam freely and interact with masked actors who might whisk you into a cupboard or slip a note into your hand. But Violas Room, staged inside The Shed in New York City, marks a departure from this model: There is only one prescribed path. And instead of interacting with masked actors, you are the actor. “What Punchdrunk is all about is a physical activation of the body. Its about putting the audience at the center,” Punchdrunks founder, Felix Barrett, told me. “If you’re stood up, and you are having to make decisions, or you’re having to deal with a perceived threat, suddenly the flood of adrenaline sends all your blood to your skin.” [Photo: Marc J. Franklin] “Follow the light” Violas Room was adapted from a 1901 gothic mystery story by the English horror writer Barry Pain. The Punchdrunk version was written by Booker Prize short-listed author Daisy Johnson, and it follows the story of Princess Viola, who leaves the safety of her home and ventures into a shadowy dream world where her sense of self begins to dissolve. Of all the stories Punchdrunk has crafted, this one is Barretts favorite. There’s something about it, where the atmosphere is so thick, and its because it’s so controlled, he says. [Photo: Marc J. Franklin] Barrett staged an early version of Violas Room back in 2000. Then called The Moon Slave, it took place inside a 13-acre walled garden, where spectators were guided by staff holding burning torches. When the team revived the show (it first ran in London in 2024), they had to rethink how to replicate the concept indoors. Barrett wanted something ephemeral, like the ghost of Helena taking you by the hand, he says, and he eventually landed on fiber-optic lights the size of a grain of barley. (Standard LEDs were too bright.) Spectators are now guided through the space by a synchronized mix of Bonham Carters voice and more than 1,500 individual light fixtures concealed inside woolly gray clusters designed to resemble tiny, stormy clouds. Every light is an invitation to move forward through the sinuous set: If a lamp lights up, you walk toward it. If it doesnt, you stay put. At times, I found myself in complete darkness, without so much as an exit sign lurking in a corner. Barrett says enough visitors in London got spooked that they decided to assure people at The Shed that there are no jump scares. To further amp the senses, visitors are invited to experience the show barefoot, and every room is bathed in a custom scent. When youre light-deprived, all other senses kick in, says Alex Poots, the artistic director and CEO of The Shed. These moments of pitch black called for special permission from local authorities, as total darkness goes against U.S. fire codes. Poots says Violas Room is one of a few shows in America that’s gotten permission to go complete black, and he notes that a team backstage monitors spectators via a bevy of infrared cameras and can intervene within a minute of a fire alarm sounding. [Photo: Marc J. Franklin] A fairytale in Manhattan Violas Room is an intimate affair designed for a maximum of six people. (People with wheelchairs can book private visits to experience the show, which is fully ADA accessible.) I visited on a clammy Tuesday evening. Outside, Manhattan was gearing up for happy hour. People were sipping Aperol spritzes, and tourists were traipsing up and down the High Line. Inside, I felt like Id stepped into a fairytale gone wrong. The set design, by Barrett and Casey Jay Andrews, contributed to the realism. Barrett started by drawing the “shape of the show” on a piece of papera line, a square, a line, a squarebefore adding layers of texture, a bit like a painting. To visualize the whole thing, he then worked with a team f model makers who spent months making copies of each room, then lighting them from within. [Photo: Marc J. Franklin] For Viola’s teenage bedroom, Barrett drew inspiration from his younger brother’s bedroom and stuffed it with ’90s ephemera he sourced from vintage shops and markets around London. Elsewhere, corridors narrowed under flickering lights. Closets opened into secret rooms. A miniature tree encased in jelly later came back as a giant tree towering over an entire room. [Photo: Marc J. Franklin] We wanted that sense of scale to shift and grow and grow and grow, says Barrett, who drew inspiration from Maurice Sendaks Where the Wild Things Are, where the mundane becomes otherworldly. In Sendaks story, Maxs bedroom transforms into a forest. In Barretts story, things take a slightly darker turn. With nowhere else to go but straight, the experience doesnt allow for any meandering, but the curious mind will be rewarded with treats or easter eggs the team peppered throughout the show. (The jelly-encased tree is one of them). Im a real believer that as long as one person finds it, its absolutely valid, Barrett says. In fact, if one person finds something that no one else does, then its their gift. Its their discovery. The show is on view through October 19.
Category:
E-Commerce
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