I’m back again with another interview; this time I’ve tried to step a little out of my comfort zone and found someone I had never spoken to before reaching out to them for an interview. Ronald and I work in the same business but in different departments, through our intranet I discovered he owned a Kei truck and it immediately sparked my interest in to why someone would own such a unique Japanese vehicle in the UK! You’ll find out more as you read on so I hope you enjoy reading and learning along with me!
Thank you for joining me today, could you introduce yourself to us who you are and where you’re from?
My name is Ronald. I’m originally from the Netherlands and I moved to the UK 10 years ago.
Whereabouts in the Netherlands are you from?
I’m from Breda, which is a moderately sized city close to the Belgian border, below Rotterdam, basically.
What brought you to the UK?
I was in a long-distance relationship. The company I worked for had to let a lot of people go and they wanted to keep me on through an employment agency because they couldn’t give out a full contract. I was there for two years on a fixed contract and employment law in the Netherlands stipulates after two years, they must give you a permanent contract or let you go.
They weren’t in that position. So, I had already been in a relationship for two years back then. For me, it was a great opportunity to say, okay, I’ll move to the UK. So, I moved here and I literally applied for one job here, got the job, and I’m still here to this day since 2016.
Where do you work and in what capacity?
I work for the LEGO Group as a Senior Customer Operations Advisor. My department sell products to any businesses in the UK that sell LEGO products, so online retailers, stores, etc. I used to play with LEGO bricks a lot when I was a kid. So I feel very lucky because there was some affinity with this brand before I joined.
I worked my way up to this role however, I started as an Advisor in your department, Consumer and Shopper Engagement. Then the Operations support team and eventually worked in the department I’m in now.
I’ll come to the main reason that we’ve crossed paths which is Kei Trucks. Could you first explain what a Kei Truck is?
I should preface that I’m a massive car nerd from a very young age. If I saw just an angle of a car, I would be able to tell you what model and brand it was, what engines, if it’s rear-wheel drive, front-wheel drive etc. So I’ve always been interested in cars and my dad used to work for Volkswagen, Porsche and Audi back in the day, like a dealership.
He had a passion for German cars and mine was Japanese cars. My sisters name is Sylvia and there is a bubble era car called the Nissan Sylvia which stood out to me initially. I then played Gran Turismo when I was younger and found out about Kei cars through that.
Kei cars are really compact vehicles stimulated by the government with benefits like tax, cheap insurance and cheaper toll roads.
When you say compact, this must come with some limitations?
Yes, it’s 660 CCs maximum. I think power output maximum 64 horsepower and dimensions 3.4 meters long, 2 meters high and 1.48 or 1.5 meters wide. So a really tiny, small footprint. But the cool thing I think about it is that the Japanese went super creative with those limitations.
So you’ve got little Kei trucks which are super convenient for any small businesses, for example, or in the countryside as well for gardening or whatever, because you can fit a lot in it. It’s got a really low trip bed on the back, drop sides as well. And so super accessible if you compare it to like an American pickup truck as it’s a lot more convenient than that.
They’re not super quick but in Japan the speed limits are low compared to the UK. So you can drive it at 70 miles an hour on the road here, but you’re high up in the RPM range. You’ve got trucks, you’ve got little people carriers, you’ve got little sports cars, convertibles. There’s even a Mazda AZ1 with crazy fold wing doors. All the brands sort of went with it and they’re super popular in Japan.
I use one when I visit my in-laws in Japan and can attest to how well they drive and their usefulness! Usually you can tell them apart by the Yellow number plate. I first came to know of your actually because of your own Kei truck which I’d often see in the car park and it made me wonder who had imported this, what’s the story behind you coming into ownership of you vehicle?
I own several. So, I’ve got the HA6 Honda Acty, which you’ve seen, that was bought in the UK, was already imported and I bought it really cheap because it had been left in the field by the previous owners and used as an advertising vehicle with like a sandwich plate in the back. It got vandalized, all the windows were smashed, a tractor had driven into it.
So, it wasn’t great in terms of how it looked, but mechanics are great, 60,000 kilometers on the clock. Another thing is these cars weigh nothing. I think it’s 760 kilograms so there’s very little wear on the suspension. I bought this car when I moved to the UK and before I started working at the LEGO Group, what I did was fix up this truck in a garage and I imported a bunch of panels and the glass was available through their owner dealership in the UK.
I ordered a bunch of panels from the Honda Vamos, which is the van version of the Acty. They’re a little bit more luxurious. I got some doors, new front bumper from the Vamos, new bonnet and some FRP side panels as well. But yeah, I had a little bit of fun fixing it up and I’ve used it for everything.
What kind of uses have you found for it?
I’m also into motorbikes so I’ve got a little aluminium ramp, if I buy a motorbike somewhere in the middle of the country, I don’t have to bring someone along. I just drive there with the truck; test ride the bike and if I like It I can transport it home.
Gardening as well, when we bought our house, the garden was completely overgrown, so we used it to remove trees and things. The other fun part is it makes everyone smile.
It’s such an aesthetically pleasing vehicle. Going into the restoration of that particular vehicle, what was the most difficult part of that would you say?
They’re super reliable. There wasn’t anything wrong with it other than the radiator because a tractor had hit it. I’ve not really done anything with it restoration wise. It needs a little bit of TLC is all.
Do you bring it to any shows?
No I just maintain it for personal use but I’ve got a business actually. Me and my partner started it to import cars and parts from Japan.
I lived in Japan in from 2007 – 2010 working for a business selling mostly parts, we were the first to create a service for Japanese Yahoo auctions. So I did a lot of beta testing for that and I’m a little bit addicted to the Japanese Yahoo auctions to find parts. They became incredibly popular to import into the US as well.
And the Halo cars from the Bubble era, so Nissan Skylines, Mazda RX7, stuff like that. Super cheap back in the day, but now it’s not cheap anymore. The prices have skyrocketed because in the US, once cars become 25 years old or older, they become eligible to be imported. So, all those cars have shot up in price, but also rare parts.
That makes sense. I think they’re very aesthetically pleasing vehicles and are just becoming increasingly popular, I see this a lot in video games such as the recent Forza Horizon set in Japan or in toys like my sons Hot Wheels, Japanese cars and actually products and media in general are very popular and nostalgic right now.
The Yen is also extremely affordable at the moment. I remember when I lived in Japan. I think for one Euro you got 110 yen and now for one pound you get, I think 220 yen or so. It makes it very popular for tourism, but also to import cars and what I mentioned earlier is golden era cars from the Bubble era. Those are extremely popular and pricey, but newer cars like Kei trucks or Kei cars in general, you can find really cheap in Japan.
How many vehicles do you own currently?
So at the moment with that car on the way, I think it’s seven. The car that I have now, the one you’ve seen is a HA6 Honda Acty. I’ve got Honda Beat, which is a mid-engined convertible sports Kei car that revs to 9500rpm. A Nissan 200sx modified with sr22vet engine and a big G30-770 turbo, which I’ve owned for over 21 years, a Honda E electric car and the newer Honda Acty on the way.
You can probably tell I can go on for hours when it comes to talking about cars, and most people are probably not super interested in that. But I find it fascinating how creative the Japanese got within those Kei car limitations.
It’s nice to see someone passionate about any subject. That’s why I do this, it’s to hear people’s passion for things like travel, vehicles, anything!
I also have three motorbikes. I wouldn’t say I’m A hoarder, but always stuff coming and going.
Which vehicle do you primarily use, I see the Kei truck at the office often.
If you leave a car and not drive it, it’s not very good for it. So, I drive everything except for the Honda Beat because the engine is out. I’m currently putting that back together. Because my goal is to take that to the Nürburgring this year.
We go with a group of friends every year and this is the car I want to drive this year.
I might sound naive here, but I’ve always kind of wondered about what happens with imported vehicles or uncommon vehicles when they go to for an MOT or to the dealership for a repair of any kind. Do you get any comments or anything like that kind of thing?
They like to see something strange. I’ve also had an MOT tester one time and he was tall so he couldn’t fit in the truck. So he asked me to drive it into the station and then he did his work and he was a bit grumbly about it. But other than that, it’s always positive.
I like to do the work on the cars myself where possible and I think what deters a lot of people is that they can’t find or they think they can’t find parts for it. For a person like myself, with Yahoo Auctions, everything is so much easier.
Do you feel that Kei trucks or vehicles are becoming more popular in the UK?
I think so, yeah. I remember when we first started driving this thing, I think, because you can find out how many are registered, and I think it was like 5 in the whole country but now you see a lot of people importing them because of the low yen.
So, they’re becoming more popular, which I think is great. I think in general, the size of cars is getting more bloated, and the parking spaces are not becoming any bigger. So I think they’re a great solution.
You mentioned going to Nürburgring, what does that consist of?
I have an annual pilgrimage to the Nürburgring, which I started doing since 2022. My friends and I go with a convoy from the UK and then we meet up with people from Germany, from France, the Netherlands and all have a great time. We usually have the same hotel that we go to and build a relationship with the owner and we go there every year.
It’s Quite inspiring to hear like how you can create a community from anything really, can’t you? Do you race each other there or is it purely about driving on the track?
Yeah, so it’s basically a toll road and at certain times of the year, you have track days, obviously, but there’s also tourist drives, so that’s what we do, so you just rock up with a kind of credit card pass to use the road like a barrier system.
There are certain rules that you need to abide to. Pickup trucks are banned now since I think 2 years or so, and motorbikes are not allowed on these tours. I think now there’s also limitation, you need to be able to go over 120 kilometers an hour. Which is something I’m slightly worried about with my Honda Beat, it should be fast enough, I think.
There is not speed limit, so you get a lot of fast locals, it’s gotten a bit rowdier, I find as well. Perhaps due to influencers turning up.
Is it marshaled by any staff if there is a crash or anything?
Yeah, there’s marshals along the whole track, but they also have a light system now, which you didn’t have when we started. Which is like Formula 1 so you know when to slow down for example.
Last year we drove with a convoy of nine cars. One of our friends crashed into the barrier quite badly so people do need to be careful. But overall, it’s a great experience for any car enthusiast to go there and drive your own car on the track. There are a lot of professional photographers along the whole track as well.
It seems like you are quite a handy person, you mentioned you’ve done some restoration work on the vehicles but I’m also aware you’ve created something for our colleagues to use at work to help with litter picking, could you talk about that?
Well, we have a Green Team that is around all kinds of sustainable initiatives. My incentive for joining the Green Team is that we always go for lunch walks into the park opposite the office And I ran into some litter pickers there and I struck up a conversation, and they turned out to work for a charity called Project Sponge.
They look after the streams that run through Slough. So, they care about the wildlife, the fish. One of the things they do is litter picking and moving to the UK and having experienced Japan. It’s one of the biggest things I really don’t like about the UK is how messy it is everywhere; it’s a stark contrast to my experience in Japan.
Yes, Japan is overall much cleaner, and it seems people genuinely want to take care of their surroundings.
Yes, if I commuted to work, there were always people like shop owners tidying up the area in front of their store and that’s something you just don’t see here. With all this in mind there was an opportunity to join the Green Team, and my motivation was to create a litter picking station.
Initially it was just buying the materials. We have a sponsor from the executive leadership team who provided the funds. But then thinking practically, So I went on Facebook marketplace and found a steel frame from a desk on caster wheel and converted it.
And I had some walnut worktop laying around at home. So, I cut it to size, put A logo on it from the Green Team and I thought if it’s strategically positioned in the office, make it a low threshold activity and make it look appealing, then people care about it and easily pick it up. I’m really happy to see that it’s actually being used.
It’s fantastic. I’ve used it quite a few times. You’re exactly right. It looks good, all the tools are there. It’s right in the canteen doorway so most people are going to go past that at some point and it’s simple to just pick up some stuff, go do some litter picking, come back.
I care about maybe inspiring other people to do something similar or businesses, so I am glad people are making use of it. I saw someone on Instagram who’s gained like 200,000 followers within the span of a year and what he does is go to different places his viewers ask for and pick litter.
I think that’s great if it sparks a conversation and people will actually start caring about it. But I think to create further awareness it needs to be with the younger generation. It’s a hard one because I don’t understand the mentality of just throwing your stuff out.
It’s a hard battle, but it is inspiring to see you trying to create a local community out of this. Similar to the way you talk about vehicles and how you’ve how you kept them, how you use them to hang out with people and create a community through that. I hope more people care not only for their community but care about creating a community in general.
I wanted to thank Ronald for his time and being open to sharing his interests to someone he had never spoken to before and to all of you reading! If you have a story you’d like to share do get in touch. If you’d like to support the blog and the costs of hosting the page you can also do so here. I will be primarily focused on audio and video posts as I move forward to also feel free to subscribe to the Youtube channel.
Interviews With You! By Lewis Jane 
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