umacover

While Japan is certainly home to a wide variety of animals, from adorable Shiba Inu to emotive puppies, one creature you don’t see too often is the horse. Sure, they’re out in the countryside doing horse stuff–eating, pooping, and running like the wind–but it’s not like you see a horse just hanging out in front of convenience stores. I mean, seriously, this isn’t The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.

Or is it??

Late last week, Twitter user Zangitan was heading to the local convenience store to get some lunch when he came across…well, a horse. In the parking lot, standing in one of the marked spaces.

▼ “No, get my good side!”

uma

Along with the picture above, Zangitan tweeted:

I went to the convenience store to get some lunch.
A Nissan “U-MA” was parked there, so I asked the owner if I could take a picture.
It was a single horsepower, full custom ride.

I asked, “Where are you headed?”
He responded, “Ah, just to came to the convenience store.”

Just came to the convenience store.

For this tweet to make sense, it might be helpful to know that used cars are sometimes referred to as “U-CAR” in Japan, and the Japanese word for “horse” is “uma.” Of course, in the spoken language they would be pronounced differently–the “U” in “U-CAR” is pronounced like “you,” while the “u” in “uma” is pronounced like the “oo” in “scoop.” Still, the idea of a fully customized, “U-MA” was enough to get the attention of Japanese Twitter users, who retweeted it over 15,000 times!

Japanese Internet users were amused by the incident.

This is “Cool Japan.”

I bet the mileage is great!

Yeah, but doesn’t this come with an automated driving function?

I wonder if you can leave a horse in a coin-parking space.

Wait, is it okay to ride a horse on public roads??

It doesn’t just run off on impulse?

Does he pick up its “exhaust” with a bag?

Hey! This a Ferrari…the real thing, too!

We’re still wondering about the mileage, actually. Surely a horse wouldn’t get very far on one gallon of a gasoline…

Either way, head down to your local Nissan, Toyota, or Honda dealer today and inquire about get your very own “U-MA!” They’re easy on the environment and cute, too! Maybe not the best as house pets though.

Sources: Jin115, Twitter
Images: Jin115, Twitter