Japan’s ‘Hottest’ Export This Year – Radioactive Cars

At the start of the year, Russia said ‘nyet’ to 132 Japanese cars imported through Vladivostok due to high radiation levels. Fast forward seven months and as AutoWeek reports, it appears the Japanese are up to their old tricks – desperate to make Abenomics look like it’s working by jamming exports higher – a total of 70 used cars imported from Japan and found to have increased levels of radiation are being stored in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. The import of used Japanese cars is big business in Central Asia, especially in Mongolia and the Russian far-east regions, but several batches of cars have been seized by the government during the last three years – despite ‘agreements’ from Japan.

As AutoWeek reports,

A total of 70 used cars imported from Japan and found to have increased levels of radiation are being stored in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, and cannot be sent back, according to Silk Road Reporters citing local news outlets. Car retailers in Kyrgyzstan, who have been importing significant numbers of used cars from Japan for resale in the country, have been finding cars that exhibit levels of radiation above normal. Several batches of cars have been seized by the government during the last three years and have at times been sent back to Japan through an agreement with the Japanese government. However, irradiated cars keep turning up in Bishkek, the capital, and not all of them are being detected in a timely manner.

“These cars cannot be dispatched back. Neither China nor Japan will accept them. For this reason, we have to keep them here and deal with their further disposal,” Tolo Isakov, director of the Disease Prevention Department in Bishkek, told the AKIpress news outlet, according to Silk Road Reporters.

Isakov told AKIpress and Novosti.kg, another Bishkek-based news outlet, that currently a decision is being made whether to scrap the cars. The cars have been quarantined in an impound lot, but the local authorities do not know what to do with them. The batch of (so far) 70 cars has been building up in the impound lot over time, with cars having come through several other countries. Isakov did not mention the levels of radioactivity that have been detected in these cars, though it is expected to vary from car to car.

The import of used Japanese cars is big business in Central Asia, especially in Mongolia and the Russian far-east regions that are the largest consumers of used Japanese cars in the area. In cities like Vladivostok, Russia, RHD Japanese cars make up roughly 50 percent of all registered passenger cars.